


Let The World Burn

by DatLAG



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Promare, Arson, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fights, Fire Powers, Firefighters, Guns, M/M, Mecha, Minor Character Death, Protective Siblings, Slow Burn, Well guns firing ice and guns made out of physical fire, Yeah so its basically the movie but-, fire weapons, they have their Side Hope personality and appearance, this my first time writing DR be nice pls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:01:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26147599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DatLAG/pseuds/DatLAG
Summary: “Don’t I have the right to know the name of the guy who beat me?”Nagito chuckled. “No need to make such a scary face mister Remnant Leader. I am Nagito Komaeda. Nice to meet you, but maybe it’s a bit late to say that.” He said with his average smile.The brunette sighed. “I’m not just “Remnant Leader”. The name’s Hajime Hinata.”“I’ll try to keep it in mind.”“You better.”As if in a competition on who will back down first, they both stared at each other. One keeping his usual indiscernible friendly or maybe not friendly smile and the other a persistent stare full of salt.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito
Comments: 15
Kudos: 63





	1. Striking while it’s Hot

**Author's Note:**

> OK SO i wanna say this right now, the characters have a personality similar to those they have in DR3 side hope, same for their appearances.  
> With that out of the way... Yeah I had the idea because Hajime and Lio had the same voice actor sorry hjskcjfqslmc  
> It's my first time writing DR and I am really scared but have this anyway! I hope you enjoy!

A siren rang in the burning rescue building, the classic mechanical voice announcing a fire in an area of the city, getting the attention of the Burning Rescue squad.

Komaru put her manga down, Kaito threw his towel back on a table, Miu looked excited probably thinking of this new opportunity to use her creations, Shuichi put down his papers and Gonta threw one last glance at his bugs, before they all ran to their locker. They all took out what they needed and some checked themselves before running towards their vehicule, whom the last member of their crew was already inside patiently waiting for his comrades. All except Komaru, who ran upstairs to go in her own contraption.

Inside, everyone jumped to their post. Miu plummeted in her chair and her finger danced across the holo-keyboard as Kaito ran past her to the driving seat. Shuichi was already beginning researching on the situation on his tablet when the massive truck bursted out of the building with the wild noises of its sirens and its blinding lights.

Their exit was quickly followed by their transport plane as Komaru transmitted she was right behind them.

Eyes on the road, Kaito asked for the briefing. “Shuichi, Miu, what’s the info on the fire?”

The inventor sighed. “It’s the fuckin’ usual, an explosion that caused a ripple effect around and made a shitton of fire.”

Shuichi chuckled awkwardly as he finished what was probably her train of thought, or so he hoped. “B-Burnish type explosions in an Enoshima laboratory.”

“Speak louder Shuichi!” Ordered the driver.

Taken aback, the dark haired kid scrolled on his handbook and upped his volume. “Burnish type explosions in an Enoshima laboratory in Area 77-B around the 48th floor!”

“Now _that’s_ how you say it!” Content with himself, Kaito took a sharp turn to their destination.

* * *

The purplish and bluish fire had indeed spread around the floors when they arrived. The contraptions anti-fire struggled to keep up, some of them were even already destroyed.

Through the transmission, Komaru asserted; “Civilians gathered on the 50th floor!”

“Got it!” Still driving full speed in the street, Kaito gave out his orders. “Miu, send Gonta and Shuichi!”

Gonta, already in the sending pod, knocked on the glass. “Gonta ready!”

Shuichi jumped in the pod. “Ready here too!”

“Then have a nice flight suckers!” Yelled Miu as she smashed a button.

The first pod loaded in the canon in the back of the truck, launching him through the air. The high tech suit formed around the pod as it soared, the suit crash landing into the building. It rolled to slow down the momentum and eventually stopped.

“Gonta inside! Going to put out flames now!”

Almost on signal, a bunch of flames to practically physical form, resembling snakes, and rushed as his suit. He predicted it however, and the mech’s massive arms grabbed the slithering embers and crushed it under their weight.

Through the burning coating of purple flame, flew in Shuichi in his own suit, designed with freeze tech guns. He used his momentum to speed through the floor, while shooting with precision the massive fires, as well as the burning snakes zeroing in on him. Eventually, his shooting practically froze the entire floor, leaving free ground for Gonta to save the civilian, refuged inside the anti-fire room.

The bigger mech ran through the floor and opened the room with its massive metal claws.

“You safe now!” He said to the civilians. The back of his suit transformed into a safety bunker attached to his suit.

The gunner mech slid over as well, it too starting to form a mini bunker. “Please enter in there and we’ll carry you out of here!” Asked Shuichi.

Once the civilians were safe, both suits made their way outside and climbed down. Komaru kept an eye on them, until a signal caught her eye. “There’s still people on the roof!” She maneuvered her engine to close the distance, but ashes floating in the air sparkled like electricity, pushing it away. “I can’t get closer! Send the other unit!”

“Sure!” Kaito leaned backwards to see Miu in the back. “Miu, send the noobie!”

She groaned. “Seriously, why is this guy part of our squad…”

Shuichi, through the com, provided some wisdom. “Because he’s the only one insane enough to pilot your inventions..?”

“Gonta inclined to agree.”

“Oh shut your stupid mouths!” She raged.

The last member, already ready inside Miu’s engine, added his own opinion. “I wouldn’t call them insane, those inventions are worthy of genius!”

Miu proudly put her hands on her hips. “See? Even that idiot gets my amazing genius!”

Kaito, exasperated, yelled: “Just launch Nagito already!”

“Ok fine!” She sighed before pushing a cliché red button.

The canon on the truck’s back shifted upwards along the building. Inside, the white haired firefighter was waiting for the launch with great anticipation. “I’m so excited I’m getting goosebumps! I can’t believe _I’m_ the one being sent!”

Again, Shuichi shared his wisdom. “Didn’t you already do it before..?”

Kaito waved his hand. “Just let the dude be excited.”

“Launching now fuckers!” Miu signaled.

Indeed, on cue at the end of her sentence, the engine Nagito was strapped in flew up, almost crushing him under G-Force, deforming his body including the grin of excitement he was wearing as the engine soared through the sky in blue and red light. But the grip he held with his robotic left arm was just as strong as ever.

The pod flew above the building, and Komaru watched it crash back down onto the roof.

It bounced multiple times with crashing noises, ending in front of the civilians.

“Is he dead..?” Asked one of said civilians.

The pod activated, transforming into a suit. “Sorry I’m alive!” Said Nagito inside. His suit’s arm pulled out a spear, and said spear deployed strings that started to turn quickly, until it eventually acted like a fan and blew the clouds away, allowing the transport plane to get closer.

Komaru landed and the civilians loaded inside the plane. Again, she noticed something on her screens. “Burnish signals are increasing! Watch out!”

The speared suit turned towards a massive green purplish fire revealed behind the clouds on another side, more elevated of the roof. “Leave with the civilians, I might be able to slow them down for a meager time.”

“I don’t think your suit is made for combat!” The flying girl asserted.

Miu scoffed. “It _was_ not made for combat. But guess what I did to it?”

The purple haired driver sighed. “I kinda feel bad for the dude to have to play ginea pig for your stuff…”

“Oh I don’t mind at all!” Declared the white haired member.

The suit then proceeded to start transforming, mechanism turning and switching, optimizing not only the suit but the spear as well, giving it more protection and equipping it with more freeze tech.

Inside the burning wall, three silhouettes emerged.

They were covered in stylish black armor that covered their entire body, surely formed by the flames. The one standing on the right was covered in yellow flames, the one on the left in pink, and the one in the center, who possessed a more complex armor, radiated in green ambers with some shades of red.

Back inside the truck, Shuichi scrolled some more on his handbook. “It’s the Remnants! The Burnish terrorists! Most of them were caught after the Great World Blaze but their boss and two high ranking members are still on the loose!”

“We didn’t ask for a history lesson!” Screamed Miu.

The black haired firefighter tapped his foot on the ground. “I mean I think it’s their boss! Nagito you should retreat!”

With not a single spec of shock on his face, he stared at the blaze. “So if we defeat them now, wouldn’t it be over?”

“But it’s too dangerous!” Tried to reason Komaru.

“You are aware he has no regard for his personal safety right?” Asked Kaito.

“As long as I am useful, I don’t care about the damage I must endure!” The white haired teen proudly asserted.

Miu slammed her keyboard. “Hey you better not damage this baby on purpose!”

While they were bantering, the Remnants simply looked at each other.

“Are they stupid?” Asked the pink one.

“Definitely fuckin’ stupid.” Answered the yellow one.

They then began readying themselves. The ones on the sides formed vehicules with their flames, the pink Burnish forming something similar to a quad, and the yellow one forming a motorcycle, both deep black like their armor. Meanwhile, the one at the center created himself a throne, and simply sat to watch it unfold.

The two Remnants made their engines roar, and sped towards the white mech.

Driving full speed, towards it, the motorcycle was about to hit it directly. However, the mech stuck its spear into the ground, and spun around it to dodge the attack.

While the motorcycle was slowing down to turn around, the pink Remnant, still going full speed, released a bunch of Burnish flames, slithering towards the mech. The white machine again dodged the attack, by jumping onto the physical flames, using its wheels to slide across it.

On the other end of the flame, the Remnant was still maintaining it, and so the mech jumped off the burning road, right behind the armored Burnish.

“Oh SHI-” The Remnant exclamied before the mech’s spear, now covered in freeze, hit him right in the back, shattering his armor and sending him across the roof. As he flew, Nagito opened the suit and fired with his freeze gun, right into the Burnish’s hands and feet, creating ice handcuffed to trap the Remnant, who looked like a pink haired teen.

“That’s one!” Smiled Nagito.

“You little-!” Yelled the other Remnant. However, he couldn’t finish his sentence, as the firefighting mech slid on inext to the motorcycle, and planted its spear in its wheel, making it stop dead in its tracks. The Burnish on it flew off the engine because of the shock, the firefighter wasted no time in firing his gun again, shattering the Burnish’s armor and handcuffing him, the quite small blonde teen fell on the ground, KOd.

“And that’s two!” Again smiled Nagito.

He directed his gaze towards the last Remnant standing, still in his throne.

“Is the boss going to do me the honor of fighting?” The white haired teen breathed out in a way that made it indistinguishable to discern if he meant it sarcastically or not.

Almost in answer, the Remnant leader took his time in sitting up. Levitating in midair as something formed under his feet, what looked like a high tech black and green skateboard powered by massive turbines, roaring in anticipation.

Before Nagito had the time to even blink, the Burnish slid down a burning path he created for himself at ludicrous speed, hitting the mech front and center, sending it flying across the roof. Nagito tried to slow himself down by stucking the spear into the ground, but he kept sliding, until he was just hanging from said spear planted into the roof, dangling above the streets. He quickly jumped up back onto the roof before he could fall. “I see that you like getting to the point!”

He then turned his spear around.

“Let me get to mine as well.”

The spear’s end then transformed into a gun, firing a barrage of ice bullets towards the Remnant. Alas the Remnant leader blocked it with the underside of his skate, the giant turbines running, making it slide directly towards the mech, crashing onto him and making them both fall off the roof.

Nagito slowed down his fall with his weapon, sticking it into the building, but determined to give chase. He jumped off the side of the building onto another. The feet of the mech clashing against the metal resonating in the air as he rips off the lid of a water container made to extinguish Burnish flames. He jumps into the container, the water accumulating inside bursting him out of it, sending him flying right towards the Remnant. He punches the Burnish Leader on impact, grabbing his face and trying to freeze him through the engine’s arm. However, the green Remnant struggles and creates a thick broad blade with his flames, hitting the white machine, sending them again tumbling across the sky back into the burning roof.

They fell onto a thin railing like a one on one fencing floor, stuck between a wild blaze of fire and a pit.

The both of them took a breath, pushing down the rushing adrenaline that went up the brain. The black and green Burnish held out his hand towards the blaze. Said Blaze bent to his will, and created a large rifle, with a bayonet standing at the end of the barrel in his hand.

“So, one on one.” Nagito pulled out his weapon and covered it in freeze, slowly walking towards the Remnant as a part of the armor on one of the suit’s arms fell off. “Tell me, is burning buildings and cities down your idea of fun? Or maybe, even hope?”

For the first time, a voice resonated from the black armor. “It’s not about fun. The flames are a part of us.” They proceeded to clash their weapons, like a medieval fight, both aiming to destroy the other’s defenses. “We need to burn to live.”

“Then am I right? Your flames are your hope? However, all it does is bring despair to others.”

“View it how you like!” He jumped back. “This is for the sake of us Burnish!” He lifted his other hand and brought down a fire whip onto the engine.

As the white haired teen recovered, the Burnish made a motion as if reloading his gun, and fired a barrage of fire. It blew the mech away, and a burning snake bursted out of the blaze, pushing the suit away, throwing it back onto the bigger part of the roof.

As the pale teen recovered from that fall, he noticed the Leader about to fall on him and stab him with his embered bayonet, but Nagito rolled off to the side to dodge. As he did so, he jumped onto the floor below the roof, and fired through the ceiling with the gun in his weapon, to try and hit the Remnant above. Said Remnant retaliates with his own projectiles, both combatants dodged the attacks sent against them, but creates a hole through the roof.

“Damnit!!” Yelled the Burnish. Tired of this game of cat and mouse, he throws a massive ball of greenish fire, which is instantly frozen by the barrage of ice bullets.

The massive ball of freeze falls down and shatters. Silence then reigned for a few seconds, as no attacks were exchanged for a short while. The Remnant created his broadsword, in preparation of an incoming attack as he walked to the hole. Red and blue peeked out, and he readied himself, but all that came out was a simple floating ball of light, clearly meant as a distraction.

The firefighting mech bursted out of a wall for an attack from behind, an attack which was blocked by the burning sword.

But the close quarter shock resonated in the Remnants armor, shattering the black and redish green helmet, revealing the surprisingly handsome face of a teenager, a spiky haired brunette with one eye green and one eye red, pupils surrounded by a symbol like a gun reticle.

“So this group was led by a child?” Concluded Nagito as he held down his spear on the sword.

The brunette clicked his tongue. “You’re one to talk.”

The white haired teen felt heat on the side of his face, and only noticed a flame on the mech’s shoulder right before it exploded, knocking him down and giving the brunette the opportunity to tear his armor down.

It didn’t take long for him to only leave Nagito in his clothing, the suit now ripped apart and scattered around. “We Burnish don’t kill for no reason.” He brought his sword up to the pale teen’s chin. “Give up, you’re done.”

“I? _I?”_ Nagito chuckled. “No that’s wrong. I am technically part of a _we_.”

Gunfreeze resonated as ice bullets flew towards the Burnish, he blocked this assault of Shuichi’s mech again with his weapon, Gonta attacked from behind, but with swift agility he jumped and the Remnant once again dodged. However, once in the air Komaru had the perfect opportunity for a strike, and hit the brunette with a wing of the plane, smacking him back down to the ground, right next to the freezing spear of the now in pieces mech.

“Miu!” Called out the firefighters.

“Right right!” Said the inventor back in the truck as she pressed a button.

The scattered pieces proceeded to zero in on their target, and while the Burnish struggled to keep them at bay, it eventually closed on him and covered him like a cocoon, keeping him stuck and releasing a cooling gaz, neutralizing his armor.

Miu laughed through the com. “Did that bastard enjoy my Rapid Cooling?!”

The mech opened itself, and Nagito wasted no time in shooting the Burnish’s legs and hands, handcuffing him like his comrades.

The white haired teen let out a dreamy sigh. “Isn’t it wonderful? The combined hope of a team working together to put out a single enemy?” He leaned towards the now defeated Remnant, who was slightly shorter than him. “It seems this hope was stronger than yours.”

The brunette stared holes into Nagito’s eyes, which he reciprocated the intense gaze in full. “Who are you?”

“Do you really want to know the name of someone like me? I have barely eve-”

He was cut off. “Don’t lie, you did most of the work in catching me.” The Remnant let out an aggravated huff, the movement of his chest bouncing the white tie on his fully black shirt. “If you beat me at least take some of the freaking credit for it. Or is it your way of insulting me?”

The two colored eyes drilled into the white haired teen’s brain, both as if it was staring into his soul and absorbing him into a pit of fire.

“Don’t I have the right to know the name of the guy who beat me?”

Nagito chuckled. “No need to make such a scary face mister Remnant Leader. I am Nagito Komaeda. Nice to meet you, but maybe it’s a bit late to say that.” He said with his average smile.

The brunette sighed. “I’m not just “Remnant Leader”. The name’s Hajime Hinata.”

“I’ll try to keep it in mind.”

“You _better_.”

As if in a competition on who will back down first, they both stared at each other. One keeping his usual indiscernible friendly or maybe not friendly smile and the other a persistent stare full of salt.

The staring contest was abruptly cut but Nagito being smacked on the top of the head by Kaito.

“ _Ow-_ Oh hello Kaito, what are you doing here?” He asked while rubbing his head.

His boss sighed. “I took the elevator. Seriously what were you thinking taking it on by yourself?”

“Huh…” Shuichi left his mech and walked over. “Weren’t you the one who said we shouldn’t stop him?”

“Maybe!” He proudly clenched his fist. “The impossible is possible! All you gotta do is make it so!” The whole team sighed at the familiar quote. “However, that didn’t stop the fact you really put yourself in danger out there.”

“I told you before.” Nagito replaced his green coat, as it was starting to be cold with all of the ice tech used around. “I don’t care what damage I must endure as long as I can make myself useful and see the clash of hopes from up close! I have even received the opportunity to even participate in this poetic fight! I am truly blessed!”

Hajime clicked his tongue as if to gain attention from the others. “Does that mean you don’t care which side you are on as long as you can see it? That “hope”?”

“Why of c-” He was about to finish, but something stopped him in his tracks.

He never actually asked himself that question.

But why bother asking? In between the side of the city that protects the innocent and the one of the terrorists that burns cities, the choice was pretty obvious. A younger, more frivolous version of himself probably wouldn't have cared, but the dire situations of the current days and the Great World Blaze has forced him to come to terms with the value of the lives of the populace.

If he went back in time and told his younger self he had grown to care about life, not his own at least but those of others, he would’ve probably ended up being slapped, or laughed at. Probably laughed at in a psychotic manner.

But after all, one needs to live to create hope, so maybe his younger self would have cared somewhat too.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of flying engines. They were instantly recognizable,enormous black vehicules which placed their wheels in an horizontal manner to fly, then switched those wheels to the usual way to fall down onto the roof. Out of those vehicules appeared Freeze Force, men in massive black, blue and green armor. One of them however, was a small, white wearing blackish purple haired member, with black devices on his elbows and knees.

“Nee-ee-ee! It seems that the Burning Rescue actually did a _good job_ for once!”

Kaito let out a ridiculously heavy sigh. “Colonel Kokichi...” Spite _oozing_ from his voice.

“Remnants huh?” He walked to Hajime and looked at him like he was a child looking at an animal in a zoo cage. Something that the brunette clearly recognized, as he was staring at him back with a face that would probably scare little children. “ _Oooh_ trying to intimidate me huh? Oh well, guys, take the sucker in.” At his orders, a Freeze Force member threw high tech freeze cuffs onto Hajime’s legs and hands, replacing the ice cuffs the freeze guns had placed. “Seriously, I can’t believe your little baby level tech managed to catch this guy!”

“B-baby tech!?” Sputtered Miu through the com.

“This is why it’s only the Freeze Force that takes care of the Burnish idiots!” He chuckled.

Suddenly, the brunette’s words resonated in Nagito’s mind. “Is this how you take credit from our work?”

This did not seem to please Kokichi, as he promptly stopped in his tracks and walked to the white haired teen. “Excuse me?”

“Someone just told me we should take credit for our accomplishments. I don’t want to be insulting.” He smiled, but with his clearly passive aggressive shade of smile.

This grabbed the brunette’s attention as he was being taken away.

Kokichi replied with a smile on his own. “So _you’re_ the guy that caught him!” A click was heard and a device on his elbow activated, releasing a massive claw that gripped Nagito’s neck and lifted him up. “Then you’re under arrest! Congratulations!”

“Explain yourself!” Asked Shuichi from the back.

“You see, civilians are not allowed to deal with Remnants!” A creepy grin formed on his face. “And guess what that pale idiot just did?”

Kaito put his foot down. “We’re allowed to deal with Remnants in a fire emergency! It’s an exception and it gives us jurisdiction!”

Kokichi just kept grinning. “Do I need to remind you _who_ judges whether that applies or not?”

“Oh don’t worry.” Kaito lifted his head. “I’ll write it _nice_ and _clean_ in my report.”

The both of them exchanged stares. the colonel clicked his tongue and turned off his device, letting Nagito go. The pale teen struggled to get his breath back as Shuichi tried to help him. “Seriously, no one can take a joke nowadays.” Shrugged Kokichi.

“And of course it’s riddled with political power struggles…” Sighed Hajime while being taken away on one of the massive member’s shoulders. “”Serve and protect the people” my ass…” He then let out a groan of pain as his legs were being crushed by the Freeze Force member carrying him. The sound, surprisingly, made Nagito cringe as he took back his breath.

Kokichi patted the armor of the member carrying the brunette. “Cool cool now shut your mouth dumbass. You’ll have plenty of time to chat with your other terrorist buddies!” Hajime was then thrown into a vehicle with the two other Remnants inside, and in a flash it was taking off.

Kaito’s transmitter bipped and he checked some kind of message. “Looks like the asshole was just venting on us. Piece of shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaah i cant believe I actually made this! Anyways I hope this chapter will interest some of you!  
> And for those who wonders, yes Nagito has a spear because of *that.*  
> And I gave Hajime a fire gun and broad swords! I wonder why hjdnbhcdj  
> Sorry, I hope you enjoyed!


	2. Melting Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Now you’ve been captured too…” He said to the last Remnants. “It’s… hopeless…”
> 
> “We’ll see about that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm putting out another chapter because Ive already written pretty far ahead so why not?  
> Also I thought 1 chapter probably isn't enough for a start djfhvfdj

The three Burnish were being walked through one of the frozen hallways of the Freeze Force prison, a new flash playing in the background, about the leader of Remnants being caught by a squad of firefighters, and that the firefighter that caught him was going to be rewarded.

“At least he took the stupid credit…” Hajime whispered under his breath. If that asshole from Freeze Force was the one getting the credit, he would’ve seriously snapped and ruined the plan. However the white haired guy Nagito took it, at least he seemed to be a decent guy that cared somewhat. In his own weird way, but cared somewhat. One could learn a lot about someone else through a fight. And that wasn’t an opponent that didn’t care, he was determined, and that was something he respected.

A door opened in front of them, letting them see a bunch of other Burnish, dressed in rags and covered in bandages, before being pushed into the cell. Hajime was pushed first, Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko then landing on him.

“Hey wait!” Yelled Hajime before they closed the door.

Fuyuhiko quickly got up. “He told you to wait! You piece of-” As he tried to light his flames, the cuff on his hands immediately put it out, freezing him and making him collapse.

“It’s useless.” Said an old man with glasses in the corner of the cell.

Fuyuhiko, recovering from the cuffs sudden freeze, looked around him. “It’s… just like we heard…”

All of the Burnish were weakened and hurt, they were all like puppies trapped in a cage. It was horrible.

“Hey, soul friend.” Murmured Kazuichi in Hajime’s ear, he then tilted his head to draw his attention to another corner of the cell.

A pink haired girl was lying on the floor, practically mummified and seemed to be struggling to breathe. Hajime recognized her, she was a high schooler that newly developed her powers that he helped escape from Freeze Force… The poor girl looked at her brethren and noticed Hajime. He rushed to her side as she lent out her hand. They didn’t even bother cuffing her.

“I’m… so sorry…” He whispered. Since his hand was cuffed he held out his elbow, and she put her hand on his skin, revealed by his short sleeved black shirt. At least this will maybe bring her some comfort.

The old man spoke again. “Now you’ve been captured too…” He said to the last Remnants. “It’s… hopeless…”

As the girl tried to weakly squeeze Hajime’s arm he whispered:

“We’ll see about that.”

* * *

“Now, allow me to present you the great hero that put an end to the Remnants...”

As Junko Enoshima kept talking, Nagito could barely even perceive her words as he was lifted on the stage in front of many people.

As the speech kept on, he saw the many smiles and cheers of everyone in the crowd. Someone like him was receiving those cheers, those smiles…

People were placing their hope in him.

That realization broke him. He doesn't know if it was in a good way or not. Trash like him, was receiving him hope.

Was he… becoming hope for those people? For others?

This far fetched wish he barely entertained younger was coming true?

The richly clothed Junko walked towards him, with a medal in a box in hand. She was smiling an almost plastic smile, expecting no less of a fashionista in front of the cameras. “Congratulations.”

Nagito snapped out of his awed state towards the people’s reaction, and smiled back at her. “Thank you. I can’t believe this is happening… to trash like me!”

She chuckled. “Even trash can have their usefulness.”

He could feel a tear in his eye. “I have always tried my best to be useful, ever since you risked yourself to save scum like me!”

He does not remember the event exactly, probably because of the shock, but Junko had saved him from a Burnish fire years ago.

He may have lost an arm in the tragedy, but the great scientist Makoto Naegi had worked hard to give him a robotic remplacement, he swore not to waste the life saved and upgraded given to him. Even if he were to be destroyed in the process, he will make an impact on this world, this city, before his death, or during his death.

* * *

The members of Burning Rescue took him out for pizzas not far from there. They insisted that he kept his shiny medal on, at least for the day. He kept touching it, still in disbelief that he obtained it.

“Hey you can stop toying with it.” Said Komaru as she dug into the Pizza.

The pale teen kept touching it. “But, I still can’t b-”

“”-Believe that trash like you had it” YES WE KNOW.” Finished Kaito. “Listen Nagito.” He put his pizza down to signal he was talking seriously. “You’re amazing for managing to catch those guys. You’re wearing a medal! And medals are given to and handed by people that deserve it!”

Would other people consider catching the Remnant Leader- Hajime- and his underlings a massive success? He was worthy of this honor? It seemed so, as his more experienced peers seem to think so.

Although, this will not make his extreme low self-esteem issues magically disappear, somewhere in the back of his mind, was a self congratulating thought that was maybe the step in the right direction.

Kaito continued. “You’re not trash man, how many times are we gonna say it? No one is trash. You aren’t, we aren’t, the Burnish aren’t.”

“Those Freeze Brian dumbasses have a hard time with the last part though.” Followed Miu as she shoved another pizza in her mouth.

“Burnish not evil.” Gonta took another slice. “Burnish misunderstood, Burnish do not choose to be Burnish.”

“Exactly!” Said Komaru with her mouth full. She swallowed to continue. “It’s a mutation, it’s about how you use it! Like Gonta and his strength, and Miu and her brain!”

Miu scoffed. “Mph. I’m too awesome to be a mutation. I’m the next generation of humanity!”

“I believe more like the next generation of machinery.” Said Komaru in between two bites.

The inventor scoffed again. “You’re one to talk! Your brother does that too ain’t it?”

Komaru paused and looked out into the street. “Well, yeah. He seems to enjoy making inventions and stuff that brings hope to people, but those times around, I feel like he’s been a bit depressed…”

Nagito followed. “You could tell him that his inventions  _ do _ bring hope!” He waved his mechanical hand. “I heard that creators are always cheered up by feedback!”

“Yeah you should cheer him up!” Encouraged Kaito.

Gonta seemed to have a glint in his eye. “Maybe go see bugs! Bugs always make Gonta very happy.”

Komaru scratched her chin. “Well… maybe not  _ exactly _ bugs… But I’m sure a nice nature walk could help him relax!”

As they were eating, the owner of the dinner, a nice lady, acame to deliver their seconds.

“Oh thanks!” Said Kaito. “It’s excellent by the way!”

She chuckled. “Thank you, my son has come back from school and helped me out today, I’m very happy you appreciate his work.”

“Tell him “good job” from me!” Exclaimed Koromaru.

“I will, thank you.” And the lady was leaving back into the dinner.

Shuichi noticed Nagito’s absence from the conversation. “Are you alright?”

He took the white haired teen out of his trance, who seemed to be staring at the plaza where he had received his medal. “Oh, I’m fine. Just thinking.”

The dark haired teen followed Nagito’s gaze towards the plaza. Kaito noticed as well and did the same. “Damn that Enoshima am I right?”

“What you mean?” Asked Gonta.

“I mean, DAMN. She was a fashionista, then she revealed some insane inventions, then her popularity skyrocketed after saving Nagito-” He took a glance at him, as if asking for confirmation, the white haired teen quickly nodded. “And then she’s governor! Like… just  **damn** .”

“She’s an impressive bitch that’s for fucking sure!” Miu laughed. “You can’t go that far by just suc-”

“YEAH she’s impressive we get it!” Mercifully cut Komaru off.

Kaito continued. “And  _ then _ she introduced you!” He pointed to Nagito. “At first I admit that I did not know what to think about you… But you have some iron guts and I respect that!”

“Not only can pilot Miu’s inventions, but pilot very well!”

The purple haired teen agreed. “Yeah! You may have a fishing rod body, but you make up for it with piloting! Maybe I should invite you to our workouts with Shuichi and Maki Roll!”

Shuichi chuckled. “You better warn her beforehand if you are going to do that.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the familiar sound of Freeze Force vehicles flying, and the strong wind that came with their descent.

The black machines landed hard on the ground, and out of it came a plethora of armed armored men, Kokichi showed up as well, smiling as much as ever.

“Nobody moves a muscle  _ pleeeeease!” _ He childishly said as he entered the dinner. “If you  _ dooooo _ then you’ll go to prison! Like actual prison! It’s like green light red light but with guns!”

“What the hell are you doing!?” Yelled Kaito as he rushed into the dinner, quickly followed by Shuichi and Nagito.

One of the Freeze Force members wasted no time in grabbing Kaito, and seemed to have gone out of their way to grab Nagito even though Shuichi was closer. “You guys just shut up and watch the pros!” Happily ordered Kokichi.

The little army inside the dinner all directed their guns towards the small teen next to the pizza furnace. He looked terrified, and in a desperate move, reached inside the furnace. As soon as he did, the fire turned a bluish purple and formed a protective wall around him. People ran out of the dinner in panic as the Freeze Force made quick work of the wall of fire and riddled the poor boy in ice bullets.

The mood whiplash from just a few minutes ago was ringing in Nagito’s body. He was used to brutality and sudden changes of tones, but in a day such as this, where people actually gave him their gift of hope, seeing such a display made him dizzy. Almost… angry.

The teen fell down, handcuffed in ice, and Freeze Force was about to detain him, when the mother rushed into the room and placed herself in between the armored men and her son. “Leave him alone! He did nothing wrong!”

“M-momma…” Tried to say the teen. The mother crouched down to her son in tears. “I-It’s ok momma…”

“No it isn’t! You did nothing wrong!” She pleaded.

Kokichi promptly walked up to them. “Aw how touching! Well good for you, cuz you’re coming with us too lady!”

“ **Hey!!** ” Screamed Kaito thorough the restaurant, releasing himself from the Freeze Force’s grip, which broke Nagito free too. “Back!  **Off!** ”

Following Kaito, the pale teen simply asserted the facts. “That Burnish is innocent. And why are you bringing this woman into this?”

The small colonel simply shrugged. “She was hiding a Burnish! Therefore she’s a criminal too!” He activated the claws on his elbows and grabbed the white haired teen’s chin purposely uncomfortably to hurt him. “Study the laws before acting like a big shot!”

Shuichi slapped the claw away from his comrade. “Yes, hiding a Burnish from the Force is a crime, but it’s a law that applies only to terrorists and Remnants!” He pointed to the boy and his mother. “This guy is neither a terrorist or a Remnant!”

Kokichi laughed. “But it’s for the court to decide! Not a bunch of human extinguishers! Now take them in!”

In a flash, the two poor souls were dragged into their flying vehicles and taken away. The little bubble of anger inside of Nagito’s stomach started building up.

The clients of the dinner made it worse.

“Ew! It was made by a Burnish!?”

“Gross…”

“They fed us all trash!”

That last word made the bubble burst. Trash? That food this boy seemed to put hard work behind, and was rightfully delicious? On the same level as himself? The same trash that he believed he was?

He quietly walked to his Burning Rescue motorcycle, with a destination in mind as he made the engine roar and sped off into the streets.

“Where are you going!?” He could hear behind him, but he didn’t exactly care to respond.

* * *

The door to the frozen prison opened. “You’re being transferred.” Said the guard.

The guards were walking in front of them. Hajime was the first following while the two other Remnants were behind.

“Kazuichi.” Murmured Hajime.

He nodded.

“Fuyuhiko.” He murmured again.

“Yeah.”

Hajime closed his eyes. “Here I go.”

He could feel it inside the cuffs. his hands burning and the tech putting it out. Over, and over, and over, and over… Behind his eyelids, he felt the power building up, traveling down to his hands… The cuffs froze over, and over, and over…

Until it couldn’t take it.

Cuffs let out a beeping sound before exploding from the inside, the broken tech sliding off Hajime’s hands like a dead weight.

The guards in front didn’t just stand there, they turned around ready to riddle the brunette with bullets. However, on perfect timing, Hajime inserted his fingers into the guns’ barrels, melting them from the inside.

“This is the end.” He declared before blasting the guards away. “The end of your oppression.” He then fired behind him, freeing his comrades from their restraint.

Kazuichi cracked his knuckles. “Awesome!”

“Go free the others, but do not kill!” Ordered Hajime.

“Yeah yeah we know!” Said Fuyuhiko as they ran through the halls towards the cells.

Hajime turned to the hoard of guards running towards him. He clicked his tongue. “Just stay put!” He yelled as he raised a wall of fire, holding them off. The brunette then ran to join his friends.

While they were running, someone rang the prison’s alarm, not that Hajime really cared, but the sound was annoying.

Running from cell to cell, Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko released the imprisoned Burnish. The ones in better health were carrying their weakened brothers as the two Remnants showed them the way.

“B-but, what about the boss?” Asked a weakened Burnish.

Fuyuhiko practically laughed. “Oh come on, who do you think he is? There’s a reason he’s the boss!”

“Hell yeah! He ain’t my soul friend for nothing!” Happily cheered Kazuichi.

“He’s my bro before he’s your soul friend!” Playfully retorted the blonde teen.

“Can we keep the friendship contest for later please!?” Yelled a very embarrassed Hajime, ahead, leading the pack and getting rid of the guards as he blasted away a whole corner, and sealed it off with a burning wall. A whole Freeze Force vehicle was bursting through the corridor, struggling through the awkward parts of the hallway. “Seriously!? What even goes through their heads!?”

Hajime knew how those things worked, the front was practically immune to flames. However, the underside…

The brunette fooled the driver by firing at the front, making them believe he doesn’t know about the immunity, before sliding, which was easy thanks to the ice, underneath the vehicle and busting a wheel. After that, something this heavy was quick to crash, which it did.

“Come on guys, over here!” He signaled to his comrades.

Once outside, they loaded the Burnish onto a transport copter piloted by Kazuichi.

“Damn we barely have enough space…” Groaned Fuyuhiko.

The brunette put his hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll stay outside.”

Some of the Burnish inside were gasping and worried.

“It’s alright.” Hajime assured, he lit Burnish flames in his hand, slowly forming his beloved skateboard with the gigantic turbines. “Come on guys, time to leave!”

The helicopter took off the platform into the air, quickly followed by Hajime that kicked his Burnish engine under his foot and flew full speed ahead towards the sky, leaving green embers in his wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don't know what to say about this chapter, I think most things are obvious in and of themselves, I just hope you enjoyed!


	3. A Burning Beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something caught his eye in the reflection. A beautiful burning falling star of a familiar green with shades of red passing through the sky, adding one more color to the scenery.  
> He pointed towards it and Komaru followed with her gaze. “Burnish flame?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't exactly know how many chapters this fic will contain. I put 9 because I think it's somewhat close to the end results. I didn't finish it yet even thought I'm in advance on the chapters, I'll publish a new one when I finish one on my side.

“Wow.” Exclaimed Komaru in awe.

Following Nagito who drove away, she found him at a giant frozen lake high in the mountains. The orange light of the sun reflected on the ice, and the shadows provided by the mountains gave the scenery a shade of blue that made the environnement worthy of a high priced painting.

“Pretty isn’t it?” The white haired teen said as he was taking a big breath. “I found this place while driving lost in thoughts. I go here to relax and have some alone time.”

She scratched her chin. “I didn’t take you for someone who needed to take his time to relax… But it is a nice place.”

The pale firefighter started walking on the ice of the lake, his feet making a pitter patter.

“Hey! Be careful the ice could break!” She worried.

Nagito shrugged. “Don’t worry, I dug in this lake before and it was ice as far as it could go. Even with my luck it won’t break.”

“Why did you dig in there..?”

“SImple curiosity.” He answered before kicking the ice, making himself slide.

Komaru simply admired the scenery while Nagito kept sliding. He thought about the Remnants.

The Remnants held hope, hope for their kind. Although, was that hope to eradicate the simple humans, or something more? He could tell while battling against their leader Hajime. He wasn’t evil or driven by revenge and despair. He held with him the expectations and hopes of his kind, carrying them and using it as his weapon for battle. Truly a wonderful sight.

The hope of this city and the Burnish’s were against each other.

However, did this clash justify something as ugly as an innocent teenager and his mother being treated like terrorists and criminals? Nagito’s younger self would have said yes, however, his current self who now worked to save lives didn’t agree.

Was hope built on the persecution of others truly hope? The expression on the boy, his mother, and Nagito’s comrade’s faces were not hopeful at the sight. It didn’t bring joy, or happiness, or hope to the population these actions were supposed to protect. But what was the hopeful looks of the people looking at him and congratulating him for catching the last Remnants?

Maybe it wasn’t hope. Were those people even aware of the innocent Burnish’s treatment?

His mind went back to the client’s who threw their food away as soon as they learned it was made by a Burnish.

This isn’t a clash of hope, it was prejudism plain and simple.

Was it really right for him to win in the name of this false hope against Hajime? Who was carrying the pure hope of his kind on his shoulder?

“Hey Nagito!”

He snapped out of his thoughts to realize he was on the floor, having slipped off the ice and hurting himself without realizing. “Oh.”

“I told you to be careful!” Said Komaru, still looking at the lake from the land.

He chuckled. He sat up and looked at the ice while pushing himself up.

Something caught his eye in the reflection. A beautiful burning falling star of a familiar green with shades of red passing through the sky, adding one more color to the scenery.

He pointed towards it and Komaru followed with her gaze. “Burnish flame?”

He ran to the Rescue bike. “Call the others. I’m going to scout ahead.” He hoped on and turned on the engines, speeding right to where the green comet was headed.

* * *

He looked through the cave with the thermal vision goggles that were on his bike. A group seemed to be reunited around a source of heat deep in the cave. The thermal signals they gave off were too hot to just be normal humans.

Two silhouettes left the cave and seemed to take a look outside. Nagito took the gadget off to see two children peeking out of the cave before going back in. The kids were in a terrible state, dressed in dirty hags and had bandages around their legs, arms and head.

He readied his ice gun as he ran to the front of the cave, hiding behind the wall to peek inside. With no one in sight, he ventured deeper into the cave.

A purplish light, a shade typical of Burnish, reflected on the sides of the cavern. Repeating his moves from when he was peeking in the cave, he hid behind the wall to look.

It was a group of Burnish, in a state similar to the children he saw before, sitting in a circle around a campfire made out of bluish purple flame.

And something struck Nagito in the back of the head.

* * *

He woke up to his hands being tied behind his back. As he kept blinking to clarify his vision, the group of Burnish came into view. But his gaze was quickly attracted to the Burnish sitting closer to him on a rock, wearing black pants and short sleeved shirt with a white tie, the familiar clothing quickly made him realize who it was before he could even see correctly.

“It’s you.” He murmured.

“Quiet.” Hajime sternly answered. “We’re trying to eat.”

Nagito, with his now fully recovered sight, dragged his eyes to the group of Burnish, who were indeed eating food from a bag containing frozen meals. “Oh.”

Hajime clicked his tongue. “Why do you sound so shocked? We’re humans, we need food to live.”

The pale teen observed the group heating up their meals with their flames, some of them helping what looked like weakened members eat. “You’re right. I apologize.”

The brunette sighed. “I can’t tell if you’re being honest or not.”

“I apologize again for sounding dishonest.”

The Remnant Leader started at him for a few seconds, before brushing it off with a “Whatever.”

Nagito kept staring at him. Maybe trying to discern any trait that would difenriencate him from humans aside from his power. The closest he could get was his intense eyes, but the white haired teen found it more pretty than anything else.

Hajime kept watching his fellow Burnish satiate themselves. Some of them would turn to him as if in search for reassurance or authorization, the brunette would only nod or let out a slight smile to appease the others’ worries. There was something soothing in his presence, like he generated some kind of serenity that those around him were perceptive to. Even Nagito himself didn’t feel threatened or in danger, he wasn’t even worried by the fact he was technically at the Remnant’s mercy.

“H-Hajime!” A girl in bandages ran over to the leader, and pointed to a practically mummified pink haired girl laying down on the floor.

The brunette ran over to her and picked up her hand. “Hang in there… The truck is almost ready.”

“Truck?” Asked one of the Burnish.

Hajime nodded. “We can’t use the helicopter, it would make us easy to spot. Kazuichi found a Freeze Force truck. He’s modifying it as we speak so it can contain all of us.”

The meek bandaged girl crouched down next to Hajime. “B-but… I don’t think she’s…”

“May I?”

The entire group looked over to Nagito.

He tried to sit up as straight as he could. “I have medical training, can I offer my help?”

The Burnish seemed to be confused, probably not expecting a powerless to try and offer a hand.

“No need.” Politely declined Hajime.

The brunette lift his chin up, and seemed to breathe fire before leaning down the mummified girl and placing his lips against hers, gently breathing that same fire in her mouth.

Nagito stared in awe as he watched the girl's body pulse with a pink glow, maintained by Hajime’s fire breathing.

The girl opened her eyes, and the group let out a gasp of relief. However, it wasn't relief on Hajime’s face.

Her eyes slowly closed, and the pink light disappeared from her body as she took her last breath.

The brunette gently took her hand and placed it on her chest. He stood up next to her and closed his eyes, the other members of the group did the same.

The girl’s body slowly took a greyish color, and it crumbled into soft grey particles that were starting to blow away in the soft breeze of the cavern.

“Rest in peace…” Murmured the Leader.

“Ashes…” Whispered Nagito in shock of the scene unfolding before him.

Not looking at him, Hajime clarified. “It is our fate as Burnish.” He sparked a reddish green flame in his hand. “The flames burn our bodies, but it also gives us the power to regenerate it.” He brought that flame to his face, as if looking through it. “As long as we live our bodies are eternal. No matter how much we burn, or get hurt, we will recover. But then, when our lives come to an end…” He gently snuffed out the sparks in his fingers. “Our bodies crumble to ashes.”

The pale teen couldn’t help but look shocked.

“Is it that hard to believe? All living creatures eventually die. Same for all of us. We just feed the flames until the day we burn out.”

“You live for the flames?”

Hajime shrugged. “Maybe. We can hear them. Begging us to burn brighter and stronger.” He lit another flame. “This voice gives us a drive to live. To fight. To take our future into our own hands.” The flame disappeared from his grasp, and on cue, the flame of the campfire turned into a blaze, a green light engulfing the room behind Hajime, the colors reflecting in his black clothes and lighting up the strands of his hair. “The flame lives on inside us, answering their cries is a part of us. But no matter how much they tell us to burn, we do not kill. When us Remnants attack we always leave a way for civilians to escape, we only kill if necessary to protect our own existence.” He closed his eyes. “We aren’t the bunch of killers the media is beating you over the head with. We’re survivors, taking pride in sparing our enemies. That maybe one day, we will not have to stand on opposite sides anymore, and all of us can live in peace.” He reopened his eyes, the window of the souls targeting right into the depth of Nagito’s mind. “That is our hope, and the future we want and will fight for.”

He was completely taken by the sight. The Remnant Leader, standing proudly asserting his comrades’ hopes and dreams in the face of a previous enemy, determined to make them come true while colors danced around his strong figure, a fire burning in his eyes.

How beautiful he was.

“Soul friend!” Exclaimed a pink haired Remnant in the back. “The truck is ready.”

“Good.” Hajime gestured to his comrades. “Let’s go.”

He stayed behind watching everyone get or and transport their weakened comrades, planning to follow them once he was sure no one was left behind.

“Running away?” Nagito leaned against the wall to his back.

The brunette nodded. “As long as we’re hunted, we have to to survive.”

“Can’t you just stop lighting fires? Would it not get rid of the problem? Then all of you wouldn’t have to keep running, and you could accomplish your dream of living with everyone in harmony.” The pale teen constructed with logic.

The Remnant looked in silence for a few seconds, before cracking a sarcastic smile. “Because you really think that will change _anything?”_

Nagito raised an eyebrow.

“Even if we were nice harmless civilians, we would still be Burnish. Society would still hate us thanks to all the prejudices and stereotypes spread. I’m sure you already saw some of those before.” He looked at Nagito out of the corner of his eye, waiting for the obvious confirmation.

Nagito didn’t answer, also thinking the answer was obvious.

He kept his sarcastic tone. “And that’s not all. Do you know what killed her?” His tone then changed to seriousness. “The Enoshima Fondation. She hunts us down and experiments on us.” He clenched his fist and bit his lip. “All of us, she dissects us... Kills us... All of it for her goddamn research…”

“That’s wrong.” Shakely contradicted Nagito. “She wouldn’t commit such heinous crimes.”

Not her, not the light and hope of their city, not his savior.

Hajime laughed. A laugh full of sarcasm, pity and salt. “Look at the evidence. We just fled from the Freeze Force prison run by Enoshima, I’m sure you have seen the Freeze Force helicopter we stole outside. Us Burnish can regenerate our bodies, but this girl died, meaning it was caused by something far beyond physical injury.” He walked over to the other teen. Crouched down to be on the same eye level, and almost whispered. “Junko Enoshima’s the guilty party. And that’s a truth you can’t deny.”

As Hajime stood up and walked away, nagito could only stare in shock, his brain trying to process the information he saw, and witnessing his whole world crashing down.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when Komaru found him and freed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was definitely one of the hardest chapters to write fjkvnfkd  
> I'm not used to writing DR characters yet, and i guess I am a bit out of character because of the different context, I just hope it's not too jarring  
> Speaking of hope, I maybe kinda shoe horned in the whole Hope Despair Future thing into the narrative, but I thought it worked well.  
> I at least hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	4. Blowing on the Ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pale teen let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. “My boss told me that medals are given to and handed by people that deserved them.” He took off the medal of his green coat and placed it on her desk, looking at her in the eyes while he did so. “Neither of us does.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The more I write the more i realize 9 chapters really either aint enough or is too much hjdbgfhfdj  
> My writing has slow downed because of personal stuff but I'm trying to keep it up!  
> Also gives an escuse to watch the movie a lot

“You want to return it?” Said the blonde woman, sitting on her desk chair like a throne.

Nagito nodded. “Yes. Hajime Hinata, the Remnant Leader escaped from your prison. I found him hiding in a cave, however he escaped.”

“Huh.” She brought a finger to her face and looked at the city. Since her office was located on the highest floor of the highest building, the massive windows around her desk gave her view over the whole area. “But still, you don’t need to return it.”

The pale teen let out a deep breath and closed his eyes. “My boss told me that medals are given to and handed by people that deserved them.” He took off the medal of his green coat and placed it on her desk, looking at her in the eyes while he did so. “Neither of us does.”

She stared back. She quickly broke her blank serious expression for a fashionista smile. “I don’t get it!”

Nagito leaned back. “Is it true that you are performing human experimentations on the Burnish prisoners?”

Junko’s smile quickly dissolved back to her blank expression.

He clenched his fist. “I don’t want to believe it. You, the hope of this town, inflicting such despair… However.” He released his grip. “This is a truth I cannot deny.”

Junko kept her blank expression, she slowly stood up from her chair.

“Follow me.”

* * *

Him, Junko and her assistant sister Mukuro were going down in a dark elevator.

“I’m going to make this quick.” The blonde woman snapped her fingers.

The scenery around them changed to the inside of a volcano, it took some seconds for Nagito to realize this was holograms.

“Ever since the Burnish popped up, magma from the Earth’s core has been out of control.” The fake magma bubbled under their feet. “At this rate, the core will completely burst in 6 months, flooding the world in lava.”

The illusion panned out and left the volcano, flying above a representation of the planet in that devastated state.

“This will make the Great World Blaze look like the flame of a lighter blew with aerosol.”

The white haired teen would only listen and stare as he took in the unbelievable information.

The elevator dragged them to a black wall. Two dots appeared on it, and from those dots red lights emerged right into Junko’s eyes, obviously as a method of identification. Once validated, the wall opened, followed by more gigantic walls opening.

It led to an enormous room, with a just as enormous structure in the middle, that looked like a futuristic ship.

“This is the Gofer Project.” She knocked on the elevator’s glass towards the ship. “It’s basically the new Noah’s Arc. 10 000 chosen ones will embark on board and migrate towards another planet.”

“Only… 10 000?”

“Yep! Sorry this was as much as it can contain.”

The elevator was swallowed by darkness as it entered the Gofer ship. And it soon came to a stop to lead to a blue lit hallway. At the end of said hallway was a laboratory, with a panning glass meant to observe experiment on the other side.

“Nagito?” Said a familiar voice inside the room.

The pale teen turned his head to see none other than the man who gave him a new arm. “Hello Professor Naegi.”

“What is he doing here?” Asked the small brunette.

Junko waved her hand. “It’s ok, don't worry about it. More importantly how is the experiment going?”

“W-we are just about to start the final experiment.”

Nagito looked out the glass, and saw a wide room with two large panels of glass on each side with men in protection gears. More importantly, farther inside was the teen Burnish from the dinner, strapped to some kind of wheel, itself strapped to a black box.

“What is this?”

Junko giggled. “Just watch. Initiate the test.”

“Y-yes.” Makoto nodded and leaned into a mic. “Initiate the test. Activate the… Prometec pod.”

His shaky voice was not a good sign of what was to come.

The “Prometec pod”, started spinning the teen on the wheel, he engulfed himself in Burnish flames as he screamed in pain. The power of the flames seemed to go into pipes and tubes right towards another machine.

The professor clearly wanted to look away, but he gave another order, forcing himself to watch. “Activate w-warp.”

A hole appeared inside one of the glass. One of the people in gear jumped through the hole, was transported into the other glass.

Junko clapped her hands at the succes.

“Stop the Prometec Pod!” The wheel slowed down Makoto’s orders. “The experiment was successful.”

“Just like I told you!” Asserted Junko in glee.

Nagito’s gaze was fixed on the pod in the back. Once it had completely slowed down, the teen was immobile, and the tips of his fingers turned to ash.

Something twisted in on itself inside his stomach. Such a horrible sight. He could feel that this technology carried death in its wake, like a streak of bad luck sweeping down on an oblivious one. And the expression on the boy’s face…

“Such despair…” He whispered.

“But necessary for our survival.” Junko shrugged. “We need the Burnish for the warp engine, and without the warp engine we can’t migrate.”

The pale firefighter opened his mouth to ask a question.

“”How about stopping the magma in the Earth’s core?” you were about to say?” She exactly predicted it. “Already tried, we don’t have the technology for it. Migration is our best bet.”

“You are going to sacrifice the Burnish…”

Makoto looked at the ground, refusing to take part in the conversation.

“Do you understand now?” She placed her hand on Nagito’s shoulder. “This is a necessary sacrifice. I recall a time where you said this type of stuff yourself.”

She whispered. “”Sacrifices are necessary for a greater hope.” Don’t you agree?” Her nails dug themselves in his shoulder. 

He blocked out the burning bubble building up in his stomach and took a deep breath.

“Yes. Or that’s what my younger self would say. However…” 

He turned to face her. Flashes of his fight, his thinking on the frozen lake and heterochromic eyes staring into his souls came to mind as he smiled politely.

“I reject your false hope.”

SIlence reigned supreme in the room, Junko keeping an unchanged expression, and Makoto lifting his gaze off the ground, staring in disbelief.

Junko giggled. “Well that was unexpected. But whatever.”

Something hit Nagito hard in the stomach, as he fell down he recognized that Mukuro was the one who dealt that blow.

“Oh well.” Handwaved Junko. “”You’ve outlived your usefulness” as they say! A _long_ time ago at that. Seriously, _good riddance._ Take the psycho away, we don’t want him making a fuss.”

Nagito couldn’t even talk as his respiratory system was still recovering from that blow as guards took him out of the room.

“Makoto.”

The professor flinched.

“Begin the last stages, and install the Promotec engines on the Gofer ship. Mukuro, call my car.”

Nagito was locked up inside the cell. He could talk now, but he didn’t want to. There was nothing to say, only to watch the last remains of what he believed in crumble down. It was already starting to shatter at Hajime’s word, but now, it had finally turned to ash and blew away in the wind.

* * *

Hajime sighed. He didn’t know if it was a happy sigh, an exhausted sigh or both. He laid down a rock dropped in some tablecloth to make a makeshift sofa and looked out the desert.

The Burnish had finally a place to hide, relax and live. Since they were near a volcano, their thermal signals were practically undetectable.

So why did he feel so bad?

He thought back to the cave, he couldn’t get rid of the view of the broken look of Nagito’s face once he laid down the truth on him. It’s hard to have your visions crumble down. Every Burnish felt that when they obtained their powers and had to flee society to live.

He looked at his hands. He too used to believe in the city of Hope’s Peak. Used to believe in Junko Enoshima. Until his powers manifested themselves, and they made him go through this ridiculous project, and he will forever keep the trace of this monstrosity in his left eye.

He noticed that the firefighter had a prosthetic arm, he too forever carried damage from events past. Hajime had to admit they were similar in that regard.

The guy was weird. Like, really weird. Has totally seen his fair share of insanity, and some of said insanity definitely rub off on him, but he wasn’t a bad person. It would’ve been easier to fight against some type of cliché villain that wanted death on all Burnish, Hajime would’ve definitely transformed his rage into fuel if that were the case, but it wasn’t. Although that made him calmer. And Nagito was surprisingly calm too, not a single burst of emotion. That is outloud, but Hajime could definitely read some feelings on his face at times, especially in the cave…

Wait, why was he thinking about this?

The brunette dragged his hand across his face. This was not only giving him a headache but a weird feeling in the chest.

“Hey soul friend!” Kazuichi entered the room- well one could barely call it a room- and waved his hand. He sat down on another rock and let out a sigh. “Are you tired too?”

“Yeah…” He took his hand off his face. “Got loads of stuff on my mind…”

“Like what?”

That question made the Remnant Leader a bit uncomfortable. “It’s… kinda stupid.”

The pink haired mechanic leaned in his direction as a response, to signal he was willing to listen.

Hajime sighed. “The guy I fought, and the one in the cavern.”

Kazuichi raised an eyebrow. “The lanky ghost looking dude?” The brunette looked at his friend with an “are you serious?” smile as a response to his… description. “What!?”

“Nothing…” Hajime laid back down. “But yeah. That guy.”

“What about him?”

The brunette bit his lip. “Look I don’t know how to explain, but I just have that feeling that…”

The Remnant leaned in further awaiting the rest of the sentence.

Hajime let out a groan at the admission: “I feel like we could’ve been buddies if it wasn’t for… everything.”

Kazuichi leaned back taking in the info. He then rubbed the back of his head. “Ooooh… yeah I see what you mean…” He tapped Hajime’s shoulder. “I’m sure all of us would want stuff to be different. I mean, I would want to get back to normal so I can go back to just twinking with stuff at my shop… Fuyuhiko feels the same too I’m sure! With his clan and all, he wants to go back there…” He gave another tap. “So don’t feel like it’s stupid!”

The words sank in Hajime’s brain. it made him crack a smile. “Yeah. I guess you are knowledgeable about stupidness.”

“What does that mean!?”

Hajime sat up and waved his hand. “Sorry sorry I was trying to liven up the… Nevermind. But seriously.” He placed his hand on his comrades shoulder. “Thanks Kazuichi, that helped.”

The mechano flashed a toothy smile and a thumbs up in response.

Some type of explosion rang out and they could feel the ground shake beneath them. Fuyuhiko ran into the room screaming: “It’s Freeze Force!!”

* * *

Hajime busted out of the rumble they were buried underneath after the structure fell onto them. What he was greeted by was armies of Freeze Force members and poor Burnish trapped in ice.

Before he could even speak, a vehicle crashed onto a block of ice. A small member, he recognized as the Freeze Force colonel Kokichi, laughed. “Hey careful! They’re our fuel so try not to break it mmkay?”

Hajime sent a fireball in his direction, making the colonel jump back using the devices on his legs. “How the hell did you find us!?” He yelled as he, Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko covered themselves in their Burnish armor, so did the rest of the Remnants, some of them already jumped into battle.

“”How” you ask? Oh I dunno try to guess!” Chuckled Kokichi.

Hajime heard a voice behind him, the old man from the prison. “Watch your back.”

Before he could react, some blue engine was put on his side and exploded into ice, then Kokichi pulled out some kind of new ice gun, and fired directly in the brunette’s chest as his comrades yelled Hajime’s name in worry.

Whatever he shot dug directly under his armor like a parasyte, and started crawling on his skin, freezing and cold growing on his body, paralyzing him as his armor exploded and he was forced on the ground.

Fuyuhiko tried to reach out for him, but Hajime held out his hand as a sign for it to stop. “Don’t- or it’s gonna crawl on you-!”

“You bastard!” The blonde yelled as he turned his head towards Freeze Force, the old man walking behind them as the realization hit Hajime.

“You told him!? What have you done!?”

“ **Cooldown for everybody!!** ” Yelled the colonel.

Hajime could hear the screams of his comrades, he was able to put a name on each of them, Ibuki, Gundham, Sonia, Mahiru… All of them falling under the bullets.

Kokichi kept laughing through it all. He even sat next to Hajime to taunt him. “We put a tracker on the old dude, I can’t believe you didn’t find him out, he was such a bad liar! You’re a pretty bad one too. You really thought we wouldn’t have guessed you would get captured on purpose!?” He laughed hysterically as some kind of darkness crept on his face. “You’re so **awful** it’s hilarious!! Oh and before I forget…” He directed another gun towards the old man and shot him, covering him too in ice. “ _There_ we go!”

“ _Son of a b-”_ The brunette felt the ice parasyte create another layer of ice around him, cutting him off.

The colonel laughed and waved some kind of ice particle under his nose. “Absolute Zero Chain Freezing Bullet! Freezes stuff by feeding on body heat! I tried calling it AZCHB but I couldn’t pronounce that crap.” One of his black claws picked up Hajime. “I hope you enjoy it!!” He punctuated before he slammed the brunette into the ground.

“ **Leave him alone!!** ” A yellow motorcycle made out of Burnish flame crashed into Kokichi, making him let go of Hajime.

“ **This is for the Burnish!!** ” A pink Burnish quad crashed into the colonel as well, making him fly right into a Freeze Force vehicle.

The two Remnants raised a wall of flame as the massive engine was speeding towards them.

“Guys just run! Forget about me!” Yelled Hajime, still trapped in his icy prison.

Fuyuhiko put his foot down. “Hell no! As long as you’re around we can fight back!”

“Yeah! You're invincible!” Agreed Kazuichi.

As they held back the colonel, they combined their flame to create some type of cannon around Hajime, targeting right into the volcano. Ice started crawling on the wall of flame And Kazuichi pulled on a rope of fire, activating the Burnish machine that shattered as Hajime was launched through the air.

“ **GUYS NO!!** ” The brunette cried, his voice disappearing in the sky.

The wall was shattered and a machine gun of ice wasted no time in trapping the two Remnants left.

“Dammit- Where did they send the boss!?” Screamed Kokichi at his subordinates over the comm. “The volcano!? Crap we don’t have the equipment to go there!” He sighed. “Well whatevs. The AZC… the THING will finish him off for us. I’m gonna get chewed out for not managing to catch him though, I mean,” He slammed his fist on the vehicle. “Have you _seen_ his fires!? He could’ve fueled the entire ship himself! I really am gonna get chewed out…”

He looked around him, at the dozens, hundreds of ice blocks stuck in the sand.

“Well, at least we got the rest!”

* * *

The last Prometec Pod clicked into place. Covering the massive walls around the main capsule.

Makoto, inside of said capsule, hovered his finger on the activation button for the test. It’s only after another scientist told him to hurry that he finally did it.

One pod turned red and a scream was heard, then another, and another, then it was ten at the same time, then twenty, then hundreds… Until everything was painted in a deep red, the screams drowned the sounds of the moving technology.

The small brunette wanted to cover his ears, but he couldn’t.

“Junko… the test was successful…”

She clapped her hands while sitting on her desk chair. “Great! Mukuro you can start calling up everyone, we’re going to begin shortly.”

* * *

Komaru got off her bike, disappointed as she arrived at the Burning Rescue station.

Miu stopped tweaking with an engine as she saw her. “Did you find him?”

“No…” Sighed Komaru. “He wasn’t even at the lake.”

Shuichi scrolled on his tablet as he brought a hand to his face in thought. “Last time anyone had witnessed him he was on his way to see governor Junko. And it’s just not in Nagito’s character to miss any shift, he always warned us beforehand when something got in the way…”

Miu groaned. “Dammit why can’t the fucker be here when we need him!? I made so many new babies I wanna test!”

“Nagito not guinea pig for Miu inventions!” Claimed Gonta across the room.

The squad heard a metal noise coming from the stairs, it was Kaito hitting it with his hand to get everyone’s attention. “I received a word from one of my buddies at the city office…” Everyone turned their gaze to him in anticipation. “Nagito has been arrested.”

A collective “What!?” echoed through the hangar.

“They say he’s a criminal, and that he assaulted the governor.”

“No way!” Denied Komaru.

“Nagito criminal? That truth!?”

Kaito shook his head. “Sounds like a load of bullshit to me, but nonetheless he’s still arrested.”

“I agree, I can’t see how this could happen.” Shuichi scrolled some more on his handbook. “I need to dig deeper into this.”

The sound of a bike interrupted everyone’s train of thought. “Hey! Where’s this bitch going!?” Yelled Miu as Komaru zoomed away into the streets.

* * *

Sitting still handcuffed in the cell, and having swallowed the betrayal and revelations, Nagito perceived something moving in front of the door of his blue lit prison. The door opened for a familiar face to come into view, with a tray in their hands. The cuffs fell down as Makoto stepped inside.

“Are you sure about this?” Asked the pale teen, referring to the iron locks off his hands.

“You’re not the violent kind.” Clarified the scientist. He walked over and put down the tray in front of the prisoner.

Taking a quick glance at the food, Nagito shrugged. “Sorry, I’m not a fan of rice.”

Makoto looked down, and started walking away to the door.

“You're not ok with this.”

His words stopped the small brunette dead in his tracks.

“You’re the kind person that gave me an arm, and I often hear stories about you from your sister. She told us recently that you seemed depressed those times around and that she doesn’t know why. I take it you didn’t tell her anything, about the Gofer Project, the experiments, and the pain of the Burnish.”

Makoto didn’t move.

“You know it’s wrong. That’s why you didn’t tell her, and she remains oblivious.”

The scientist turned around, face twisted in pain and sorrow. “It’s because if it guarantees she lives- I’m prepared to shoulder that burden even if I have to suffer for it!”

Nagito sighed. “This might be presumptuous of me to say…” He chuckled. “Is what I _would've_ said, but I’m sure…” He looked at the other in the eyes. “Komaru wouldn’t want you to suffer.”

* * *

The small brunette walked along the corridor lit by the evening sunlight, hands clutching the insides of his pockets.

“Makoto!” He heard from behind him.

“Komaru?”

She walked up to him, looking very worried. “Is it true Nagito was arrested!?”

He bit his lip. “Yes…”

She gasped, after a few seconds she shook her head. “There must be some kind of mistake! He isn’t a bad guy! He’s maybe weird at times but you know him!”

“Komaru…” He murmured to get her attention. “It’s true… I saw him assault the governor.”

He lied through his teeth to his own sister about a common friend of theirs committing a crime that never even existed in the first place. He wanted to puke.

“Listen sis…” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “I’m going to contact you soon, go to the city office as soon as you get that call, ok?”

She only replied with a confused face. It only made the guilt sunk deeper in his stomach.

This is for her sake he thought. She won’t have to die or suffer.

As if to apologize, he hugged her. “I love you sis.”

She was surprised at the sudden contact, but she returned the hug. “Me too big bro.”

* * *

The flames of the volcano roared as snakes like forms emerged from its lava and repeatedly hit the giant ball of ice fixed on one of its rocks.

No dent could be made on the wall of freeze, the warmth echoing through the frost and brushing Hajime’s tragic form trapped inside. The brushes of hot paint recoloring the depth of his soul, spreading through his veins like watercolor dragged by the rain.

The full picture was finally drawn again, restoring itself but nowhere near its former glory, the painting now disfigured by abstract cold colors of sorrows and hot ones of rage.

His eyes sealed by tears turned ice locks shattered as he opened his eyelids. The frozen prison crumbled away like ash in an instant. Free of movement, he stood up, his silhouette deformed by the heat he generated. The brunette’s hand became a monstrous claw as he dug at the cold bullet planted above his heart, ripping it out with a scream.

He held the worthless ball of freeze in between his fingers, making it fall into the palm of hand and crushing it with an insignificant noise.

“ **I won’t forgive you.** ”

Both eyes turned burning red and emitted lights above, below and on its sides, a focused reticle to target and exterminate enemies.

“ **I’m gonna make you pay…** ”

His skin slowly turned as dark as his clothing, from the tips of his fingers crawling up to his forehead, and his hair became a cleaner white than the clearest snow.

_“_ **_ENOSHIMAAAAAAAA!!!!_ ** _”_

The volcano exploded with more intensity than any natural catastrophe in the history of mankind, lifting the veins of magma ingrained in the ground, shattering the earth, like tugging the strings of a worn down carpet. Thunder invaded the sky, spreading like a spiderweb without a single hint of rain. The cataclysm spread on hundreds of kilometres, and the living embodiment of it clawed out of its scorching depth.

  
“ **You’re gonna** **_feel_ ** **it. THE RAGE OF THE BURNISH!!!** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for making you suffer like this Makoto;;;  
> Also i kinda pictured the old man with glasses as tengan, but who cares bhdjfnbvhd  
> Also, that last part felt *real* good to write. Probably my favorite scene in the movie, so I hope i did it justice! And i live for badass Hajime.  
> I hope you enjoyed!


	5. Gorgeous’ tainted Arson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Burnish hit his foot on the ground of fire, feeling his age building up. “How long are you gonna hide behind these weaklings!?” He took a deep breath and looked towards the sky, screaming at the top of his lungs. “SHOW YOURSELF! ENOSHIMA!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You probably already know, but Hajime pretty much as his Awakened form while going on a rampage, well only thing diferrent is that his skin is deep black just like Lio in the movie hjdfvhsjd  
> I'm not confident in the way I'm writing fight scenes, but i still hope it entertains!  
> dammit now everytime i write "hope" i want to make a joke what have you done to me DR  
> And sorry, this chapter is pretty short... but i swear i'll make up for it! Somewhow!

A chill ran down Nagito’s spine, the chill was followed by the ground shaking. He would’ve assumed it was an earthquake, until the temperature rose to his left, and he jumped on the other side expecting some kind of attack.

This ended up being the right decision, as a torrent of flames burst through the wall, blowing open the prison leaving a view on the outside.

The pale firefighter ran to look at the city, and only saw a sea of flames on the street, and a gigantic dragon-like mass of reddish green fire.

“ **This is a message for Junko Enoshima.** ” Even if it was distorted, Nagito recognized that warm voice, although the serenity emanating from it was gone, it was threatening like holding the edge of a knife under one’s throat. “ **Release all of the Burnish prisoners, or else, I’ll turn Hope’s Peak to ash. And I will show** **_no mercy._ ** _ ” _ The dragon breathed fire across the entire avenue, showcasing its power and its lack of hesitation.

Nagito stared at the dragon’s face, he perceived a familiar black silhouette in the eyes, said eyes followed by a trail of blue flames. “Hajime?” His gaze followed the trail of blue. It looked like tears. “Is he… crying?”

That realization made his chest hurt and grit his teeth, he wasted no time in escaping his cell through the massive gap.

* * *

A squadron of Freeze Force engines flew over the burning reptilian.

“Hajime Hinata huh? Surprised you’re still alive!” Laughed off Colonel Kokichi, grabbing the wheel of the vehicle. “But not for long!” He pressed a button and the front of the engine opened, releasing a massive dose of ice towards the dragon’s face.

The ice was nonetheless caught in the creature's jaw. “ **You’re so fucking annoying! OUT OF MY SIGHT!!** ” 

The dragon released a torrent of fire from its mouth, aiming right at the flying squadron. It made quick work of the Freeze Force, only one vehicle surviving the attack and flying right towards the flaming mass, which was of course Kokichi’s. “And that’s where you die!”

The vehicle landed on the creature’s body, and started riding up, using the physical fire as a road while it fired a barrage of ice. The freeze had no effect on Hajime, the burning mass that was the eye of his creature protecting him. He held out his hand and slammed it in Kokichi’s direction, ordering the dragon to do the same with its claw.

It got rid of the engine, but the small colonel jumped out of it before it was too late, and was still running across the burning body using his black claws, still firing at Hajime.

However, when he arrived close to the eye, the Remnant simply closed his eye in accordance to which side the Freeze Force member was on, which closed the dragon’s eyelid on him, pinning him to the ground.

“Damnit who put an eyelid there!?” Screamed Kokichi. The eyelid was the least of his worries when Hajime made a finger gun motion towards him, lifting his hand to mimic the action of firing, which created an explosion on the Freeze Force member, sending him flying and crashing into a nearby building, knocking him out.

The Burnish hit his foot on the ground of fire, feeling his age building up. “ **How long are you gonna hide behind these weaklings!?** ” He took a deep breath and looked towards the sky, screaming at the top of his lungs. “ **SHOW YOURSELF!** **_ENOSHIMA!!_ ** _ ” _

* * *

The Burning Rescue truck was speeding through town, shooting at spots of fire on the buildings.

“The source of the fire is moving too fast we can’t keep up!” Screamed Shuichi on top of the truck while he was using his mech suit to shoot at the blazes.

Miu’s fingers danced on the holo-keyboard. “This is bad, all of the Freeze Brain’s interceptors have been burned down!”

Kaito kept his calm throughout the situation, as expected of someone trained to take decisions under massive pressure. “Guys, we’ll go to setor C-5, we will do what we can in transit, understand?”

A collective “Yes sir!” echoed through the truck and the com alike.

Kaito took a sharp turn, and suddenly next to him was a Burning Rescue bike, with none other than Nagito on it.

“Nagito!?”

“Kaito, Hajime- I mean the massive source of fire, it’s moving towards city hall!”

“Huh…” Kaito used one of his hands to point to the back of Nagito’s motorcycle. “Only fire I see moving right now is this one…”

Before the pale teen could realize the flames hugging the back of his engine, it already exploded, sending him up, and landing on the top of the truck. A trap door activated under him and made him drop inside.

“I’ll go along with you!” Claimed Nagito as his comrades was trying to put out the Burnish fires clinging to his clothing and hair.

Shuichi hesitantly brought the obvious inconsistency. “Weren’t you… in jail?”

Komaru scratched her chin. “We’ll worry about that later I think…” She said through the com.

Once free of the blazes, Miu slapped one of the mechs. “I fixed that baby up, it’s as good as new! Go stupid but don’t break it!”

“I’ll try my best!” He turned to Kaito. “May I?”

The purple haired driver nodded.

Nagito nodded back. “Komaru?”

“Yes?”

“I have a plan.”

* * *

The dragon lurked in the city hall district in an eerily calm manner, like a predator stalking its prey. Once the city hall reflected himself in Hajime’s red eyes, the teen wasted no time charging at the building.

Before it could make contact with it, freeze cannons emerged from the structure and held the burning creature back. However, it replied by brutal fire breathing burning down the said cannons.

The dragon enrolled himself around the building similar to a snake trapping its prey while melting down the ice weapons left. The fire reptile was now looking at the top of the building, with the one and only Junko Enoshima calmly standing on top.

“Hey Remnant! I’m the one you want!” She taunted.

Hajime’s veins pulsed with rage, his breathing becoming irregular as the need to kill the one in front of him was blinding him. “ **F-FIN-FINALLY…** ” The dragon opened its mouth and charged a massive blaze towards the blonde woman.  _ “ _ **_ENOSHIMAAAAA!!!_ ** _ ” _

Junko’s hand gleamed with an eerie light in preparation of the attack. “Bring it on scum!”

But the blast never came, as a white mech crashed into the dragon’s eye, sending it flying away from the building.

“ _ HOT HOT HOT HOT-” _ The pale teen couldn’t help but say, being pressed against the scorching eye with Hajime burning with rage inside.

“ **NAGITO-** **_STAY OUT OF THIS!!!_ ** _ ” _ Screamed the Remnant Leader inside as he sent a wave of heat towards the other teen.

Regaining his composure, the white haired firefighter looked at Hajime inside. “Not- hot at all! Your fire fueled by rage and despair is weak! I was expecting more from you! Where is that beautiful flame fueled by hopes for the future?!” Nagito raised his freezing spear above the eye. “Show it to me!”

And he stabbed the eye with the frozen weapon, bursting it open and releasing a wave of frost.

“ _ AAH- _ COLD!” He again couldn’t help but say.

That burst of freeze spread to the whole creature, freezing it in place. Around the eyes however, the Remnant was still burning and melted the ice. In accordance to his plan, Nagito grabbed the other teen with the suit, and pushed on the mech’s legs to send himself in the air, letting Komaru catch both him and Hajime in the hangar inside her transport plane.

Meanwhile, Junko held out her glowing hand in front of her, and let the light disappear. “Oh well.”

* * *

Inside of the transport bunker, Hajime and Nagito were exchanging blows in an erratic manner, neither of them coming out on top.

“ **Out of my way!!** ”

“I understand your anger- I was betrayed by Junko as well.”

“ **What!?** ”

“Even so, I cannot sit back while you are drenching this city and the innocents in the flames of desperation!”

“ **Yeah right! You’re the ones experimenting on innocent Burnish!!** ”

“Here I thought you said you took pride in sparing your enemies…”

Hajime gasped and stopped dead in his tracks. This didn’t last long, as the ground dropped underneath them.

Komaru groaned. “Alright go cool off you two!”

Beneath the two teens was the frozen lake. Hajime burned in preparation for the impact, and collided with the lake first, passing right through the ice as he melted it down on contact, the heat spreading thorough the whole area, reducing the lake of ice into a pile of steam.

Inside said steam, both teens laid on the ground. Nagito caught his breath and Hajime recovered his usual colors as his fire was put out.

“Guys! Are you seeing this?” They heard Komaru say through the loud speaker installed in the plane. Her vehicle soared above the lake, the plane’s engine blowing away the steam, letting the two others see the structure they were laid on. “It was in some kind of cavity underneath all that ice…” She concluded while touching a screen inside her plane.

“Exactly.” Said a voice resonating from her computer, making her gasp. Meanwhile on the ground, a petite feminine form appeared next to the other teens. “Greetings Hajime and Nagito, I’m the AI Alter Ego.”

The brunette jumped back while the pale firefighter stayed perfectly calm. “How do you know our names?”

Alter Ego waved his hand. “I’ll explain everything. Would you please follow me?”

The two others looked at each other and shrugged. And followed the hologram down a set of stairs that opened at the AI’s command.

“Hey- wait for me!” Yelled Komaru as she landed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man its gonna plot dump next chapter hjdkbhd  
> Also sorry to all the people that refers to Chihiro/Alter Ego as a she or they, all pronouns are valid and there's 0 problem if you prefer another one! I just use he because thats what the canon does. And their/his/her gender doesn't matter in this anyway.  
> That was also fun to write tho, Lio going on a rampage is one of my favorite scene of the movie! i'll listen to Kakusei for days. So I hope i did it justice!  
> Thank you, I hope you enjoyed!


	6. From Embers to Blaze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Even if one’s ideals were nothing but despair, hope will always win in the end! No matter how big the despair, working together and uniting our hopes will make absolute good triumph! A will to support others and the one shouldering the future of his kind combined as one! I dub it: Ko de Hinata! We shall triumph over your gigantic despair with our absolute hope!”  
> “What the fuck are you doing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we enter the last parts of the movie. Oh man, this was tough to write. Also yeah, this is infodump time, sorry djnchjds

The whole Burning Rescue team, minus two members, were taking a breather and resting after putting out the last fires. Once the main source was gone, taking care of the rest was much easier.

“We actually did it-!” Breathed out Shuichi with a half dead voice.

“Gonta tired… Gonta worried about Nagito and Komaru…”

Miu let her head slam against the metal truck. “Who gives a shit about them..?

Kaito took a deep breath. “They can take care of themselves just fine! Now we’ve got rescue work to do!”

Only two members replied with “Yes sir!” the third one collapsed onto the truck in exasperation.

* * *

Mukuro checked the last information. “Junko, the fires have been extinguished, and the readings will soon go back to normal.”

The blonde woman giggled. “Nice nice. Now call the chosen squad, and keep the normies off the ship. We’re about to launch the Gofer ship.”

Mukuro gasped. “This early?”

Junko slapped a screen that showed a reading of the Earth’s core. “The activity there has intensified. We got no time left.”

* * *

The three teenagers descended deeper and deeper into the structure, guided by lights. They first took an elevator, and followed an excruciatingly long corridor, leading to a dark room with round screens everywhere.

“Where even are we?” Sighed the brunette.

Nagito shrugged. “By the looks of it I’ll say a research facility.”

As he finished his sentence, the screens on the walls in front of them lit up, revealing some kind of camera footage. On one end of the room was someone that looked like Alter Ego, and on the other, Junko Enoshima.

Hajime held his hand out. “Wait _wait wait,_ I know that small scientist, it’s Chihiro Fujisaki! I heard that he was a prominent force in Burnish researching during and after the Great World Blaze! But he died some years ago because of a failed experiment…”

The footage on the wall started playing.

Facing away from the camera, Junko asked. “You’re not going to announce the Prometec Pod?”

Chihiro shook his head. “No. Killing the Burnish for energy is wrong. I can’t make such a thing public…”

“I see.” Murmured the woman. “You and I are the only ones that know about this correct?”

“Yes.”

“Same for the Promare?”

“That too.”

“Well…” An object slowly came into view in Junko’s hand, a gun. “That’s a relief!” The three teens couldn’t help but be wide eyed at the revelation, even though they knew now of Junko Enoshima’s true nature. “If you don’t wanna shoulder the fate of humanity, then I’ll take it instead!” She giggled. “I deserve it after all!”

Chihiro stepped back. “No way- are you going to-”

Junko shrugged. “Take away your research? Hell yes! Thanks for your hard work!”

A gunshot rang out, and Hajime couldn’t help but look away. A second one rang when Junko shot down the camera.

“Enoshima’s a murderer!” Gasped Komaru.

“Yes.” Said Alter Ego appearing behind them. “She murdered my Master.” The screens around them lit with technology they were familiar with, AntiFire Armor, Freeze Guns, Ice Missiles… “All of those were created by my Master, the late Chihiro Fujisaki. Junko stole them and made them public under her name.”

Hajime raised an eyebrow. “But how are you talking to us right now?”

“I am not Chihiro Fujisaki, I am but an AI based on himself that he created while he was alive. This facility was kept secret even from Junko, so I hid here for the time being. And as for your previous question, I know you because I hacked into Hope’s Peak network! And I keep an eye on everything that happens there!”

An alarm rang through the facility, and on the monitors were shown the city hall district, surrounding itself with thick steel walls, it’s ground lifting itself up, revealing the Gofer ship Nagito had seen before.

* * *

“Volcanic eruption in south west Hope’s Peak, and core magma activity is within our projected models.” Reported Mukuro.

Junko clapped her hands. “Good! Get ready for departure, everyone’s already on board.”

“No!” Makoto ran to the blonde Governor. “Komaru isn’t on board yet!”

Junko sighed. “Look, we tried to contact her and she didn’t respond.”

The brunette scientist put his foot down. “You can’t launch until she gets here! If she doesn’t survive it will all be for nothing!”

She sighed even louder, letting her arms fall to her sides. “We can’t hold off the launch because of one chick!” She turned around to face him. “I’m sure you understand.” Her smile faded away. “Now return to your post.”

Makoto heard the click of guns behind him, he didn’t even need to turn around to get what was going on.

The woman’s face was blank. “Immediately.”

* * *

“What is THAT!?” Exclaimed Hajime.

“A spaceship.” Bluntly answered Nagito. “Junko took me underground and showed me. In short, the Earth’s magma is going to explode onto the surface and doom the Earth, so Enoshima made a spaceship to save some of Humanity: 10 000 people that will migrate to another planet. But this isn’t the worst part.” He looked Hajime in the eyes. “It’s human powered. The Burnish will serve as the fuel for its warp engine, and that will kill them.”

The brunette grit his teeth and clenched his fist. “That insane _bitch-!”_

Komaru put her hand on Hajime’s shoulder and looked at Nagito. “Was… my brother working on this?”

The pale firefighter simply closed his eyes as an answer.

“He was, wasn’t he…”

Alter Ego appeared in front of them. “Junko doesn’t realize that as soon as she ignites that engine, the Earth will be destroyed.”

“Huh? How?” Asked Hajime.

Alter Ego cleared his throat in preparation for a long explanation, and he turned to the screens.

“The Burnish flames aren’t just flames, they are a fire based life form from an alternate universe.”

The brunette face palmed. “Oh this is gonna be complicated…”

“My master called it the “Promare”. Together they form a sentient fixed star in the parallel universe, an aggregate of those living organisms achieving life through nuclear fusion and consciousness by electromagnetic field. What we see as flames, is a fraction of their energy seeping through a space time rupture. 30 years ago a distortion in space time rift linked the Earth’s core to the Promare universe. Some humans resonate with the Promare, and thus can use their power at will.”

Hajime looked at his hand. “And that’s the Burnish… That’s what caused the Great World Blaze… And the voices telling us to burn is the Promare…”

“Yes. The more one resonates with the Promare, the stronger their Burnish powers are. Through harnessing the Promare’s interdimensional energy, it is indeed possible to achieve teleportation. But the nerves signals of the Burnish are linked to the Promare they’ve synced with, the Promare feel the Burnish’s pain. If those incomplete Prometec Pod inflict great amounts of pain on the entire Burnish kind, the Promare in Earth’s core will spiral out of control in response to their suffering, destroying the planet.”

“So the Promare lived in the planet’s core all this time…” Concluded Nagito.

“Yes.” Alter Ego cleared his throat once again. “Nagito Komaeda, Hajime Hinata, I want you to stop Junko Enoshima.”

* * *

“Again- what is THAT!?” Exclaimed Hajime inside a spherical pod, in the cockpit of a machine with Nagito standing in front of him, his back turned to him and hands on the commands.

Alter Ego explained. “This is the full Prometec Engine I have completed after Master’s demise. This one harnesses the Burnish’s power but doesn’t inflict any kind of pain, making it harmless to the users and will keep the Promare unharmed.”

Above the two teen’s heads, the ground opened up and their engine was released onto the world.

“I created it in case of a Promare crisis, I dubbed it: Deus Ex Machina!” The way he said the name, one could tell he was very proud of his joke.

The pale teen tweaked with some controls. “This looks very interesting!”

Komaru, flying with her transport plane, wondered: “How did you already get in there?”

Alter Ego continued. “It uses Hajime’s body as a gateway to use the Promare’s power, all you have to do is focus on synergizing with the Promare.”

The brunette cracked his neck. “Shouldn’t be too hard.” He channeled his energy in the pod, painting it with a reddish green fire that spread through the machine and made it take off the ground like a rocket. “But I gotta ask, why us? Why are _we_ doing this?”

Alter Ego was silent for a few seconds. “Well… I didn’t choose you, you just happened to fall here and find this lab. And i can’t do anything about Junko by myself so...”

Nagito concluded: “So if we didn’t find it, the Earth would’ve been doomed?”

The AI was again silent for a bit. “I… guess.”

The white haired firefighter chuckled. “Well… looks like we got lucky.”

“The fate of the earth is in your hands, I’m counting on you!” Alter Ego said before cutting communication.

On their way to the city, Hajime stayed quiet.

Nagito turned to look at him. “Conflicted? Understandable. I would too if I found out my powers came from aliens!”

The brunette snorted. “What do you know about that?”

“Absolutely nothing! All I know is that I want to support you! You and your hope, your future, and saving everyone!”

He raised an eyebrow. “So, you're on my side?”

“Of course!” Nagito turned back to the commands. “Now, please show me more of your hope, and let us overcome this despair!”

The extravagant way he put it made Hajime chuckle. “Alright, I’ll show them my resolve.”

“Exactly what I’m talking about!”

* * *

The Freeze Force held back the civilians that got too close to the Gofer ship, under the watchful eye of the two sisters.

Mukuro turned to her sibling. “All system check. Ready for departure.”

The Governor nodded. “Activate the Prometec engine.” She told the scientist through the com.

Inside the Prometc core, Makoto’s finger hovered the activation command. “Prometec engine… activate…”

A single dot of red apparead on the walls of black, followed by a single scream. The small brunette cringed at the sound. Energy left the pod, followed a path of pipes and conduits connecting to the core, traveling up said core towards another conduit, that sent the interdimensional energy above the ship, creating a tiny portal covering only a miniscule part of the space above the Gofer ship.

It was followed by more red, more screams, more energy, more warp gates opening above the ship.

Outside of said ship, the Burning Rescue could only look in shock at the holes of black opening in the sky.

“The hell is this!?” Exclaimed Miu.

Meanwhile, a panicked Shuichi scrolled on his handbook. “This makes no sense- there’s volcanic eruptions happening all through the world!”

Junko meanwhile, was delighted at the sight, looking up in excitement, but it was cut short as an alarm rang out and painted the area in red.

“A large unidentified machine approaching! It’s not responding to hails!”

She looked at the screens in shock. “What!?” She recognized the design, it was an invention she had never managed to get her hands on. “No way!” She slammed her hand on the control commands. “Attack with all weapons! Conventional weapons as well!”

The missiles, ice bullets, and all other attacks collided with the machine, and it feel down onto the ship.

“Collision on deck! The target has stopped!”

Meanwhile, inside of the said target:

“OW!” Exclaimed the brunette hanging upside down inside the pod. “What are you doing!? You’re supposed to be _piloting!”_

“My apologies…” Nagito sat up. “It is just… that it misses something… I am not used to piloting such… simplistic engines.”

“ _This_ is the crap I get after I decide to help you guys out!? Seriously!” He gave Nagito a light tap on the head, the other teen only replied with a smile, making Hajime puff his cheeks in protest. “Then what about this?” He fired himself up, synchronizing with the promare to lit up the engine and spread his fires to the outsides, covering the mech with physical flames, giving it more armor and changing its appearance.

“Oh~ Impressive! I expected no less from you Hajime!” Gleed Nagito.

The readings received by Junko’s machines alarmed Mukuro. “I-It’s showing an extremely powerful Burnish signal- It’s even purer than the Prometec engine!”

As the mec transformed thanks to Hajime’s power, Nagito decided to give one of his classic hope speeches:

“Even if one’s ideals were nothing but despair, hope will always win in the end! No matter how big the despair, working together and uniting our hopes will make absolute good triumph! A will to support others and the one shouldering the future of his kind combined as one! I dub it: _Ko de Hinata!_ We shall triumph over your gigantic despair with our **absolute** **_hope!”_ **

“What the fuck are you doing.” Groaned the brunette.

Nagito shrugged. “I thought it was appropriate! I often see heroes give speeches like this in Komaru’s mangas!”

“Why did I expect actual logic..?” Hajime sighed. “And what’s with the name? Sunny… child? Child of the sunny place..?” He tried to decipher.

“You don’t like it?” Nagito asked. “I thought of Hajime de Nagi but ”Start of the Lull” didn’t sound very appropriate!”

“Just shut up and pilot dumbass.” Hajime not so politely asked before a weapon hit their massive suit in the face.

After being shaken around by the hit, Nagito got up and walked calmly to the commands. “Right, my apologies Hajime.”

The other sighed. “Make up for it by actually piloting.”

On cue, he slammed the command, sliding his hand across it like a kid playing the piano for the first time, and made their suit run and jump to attack the ship’s bridge, landing a punch right on it, shaking it brutally but making much damage.

* * *

“Wait- isn’t that Nagito’s voice!?” Yelled Shuichi at the practically fantastical sight of a massive black and green mec on top of the weird flying ship.

Miu bursted out of the truck. “What is that thing?? Where did he find it??? How dare you engage in a dick measuring contest with me Nagito!!”

* * *

While the boys were battling the main deck, Komaru used the confusion to sneak in closer to the bridge in her transport plane. “Makoto! Can you hear me? It’s me Komaru!”

Shocked by the familiar voice, all his attention was directed towards it. “Komaru! Where have you been!? Are you alright!?”

“I’m fine I’m fine! More importantly watch this!” She pressed some commands to send some of the demonstration footage Alter Ego showed them. “If you use the Pods the Earth’s core is gonna burst! You can’t launch that ship! And…” She slid the video to another footage, the one of Junko Enoshima shooting Chihiro Fujisaki, put on repeat.

Makoto gasped. “This is… Junko killed Chihiro!?”

Junko tuned on another channel to speak to the scientist. “Nah, come on it’s just a video! You can fake that _easy.”_

After a few seconds of silence, Makoto put on a headset to hear his sister better. “Tell me more.”

“Chihiro Fujisaki’s AI, Alter Ego told us! The engine is incomplete, if you cause the Burnish pain the Earth’s co-” Her voice was cut off.

“Komaru? Komaru!?” He screamed in the com. “Did you cut communications Junko!?”

He heard her giggle. “Of course not! It’s that giant robot thingy.”

Said robot was about to kick onto the deck, however it barely made a dent. But it kept kicking, slowly forming a small hole, but not deep enough.

“Makoto, the robot doesn’t matter. Just launch the engine.”

The small brunette swallowed. “Did you… no. You knew launching this ship would’ve doomed the Earth…”

She shrugged. “It’s either now or 6 months. Now launch it.”

Makoto didn’t speak, thoughts gathered in his mind.

“Understood.” He whispered. He turned to his fellow scientists. “Prometc Engine, full power.”

Above the boys’ mec, the warp gate gained depths, signaling the final step before warping.

“They’re about to warp!” Noticed Nagito.

“Dammit! We need to do something fast!” Panicked the brunette.

The white haired teen stared at the bridge. “I think they are giving commands from there, maybe if we break it…” He put in the commands and the suit was kicking at the structure, swaying it off balance.

Mukuro gripped onto commands to keep herself from falling. “They’re going to destroy the bridge at this rate!”

“Not if I do anything about it.” Coldly claimed the blonde woman. “Transfer the personal, the main commands to the second bridge, and take control of the launch procedure.” She snapped her fingers. “I’ll get rid of that thing myself.” 

“I’ll teach you what happens when you push your luck, Nagito.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes the name for the mec is goofy i know  
> I really enjoyed writing Hajime and Nagito's banter to each other, the tsundere only sane man and the well meaning weirdo was always a great dynamic for those two jdhjkklio;l  
> Also again I'm sorry Makoto for making you suffer like this


	7. Roasting the Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “This is where it’s going to end, your stupid hope…” The pillar slowly extended, clicking, transforming into a gigantic white and black mec, that somewhat looked like a bear. “And your stupid life!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the final mec fight oh yeah  
> Being the hypest fight of the whole movie for me, I was both looking forward to writing it and not at the same time, because like i said, i ain't trusting my fight scenes writing skills.

The boys witnessed a part of the bridge they were attacking extend, greatly confusing the both of them.

“The hell is that?” Rightfully asked the brunette.

It was a large white pillar falling out of said bridge, from it, they could hear Junko’s voice. “This is where it’s going to end, your stupid hope…” The pillar slowly extended, clicking, transforming into a gigantic white and black mec, that somewhat looked like a bear. “And your stupid life!”

Before they could dodge, the gigantic bear kicked the Burnish suit into the deck, making the both of them go through, falling into the belly of the ship. They were now on a street in a fake city, with gigantic glassy buildings around them, metallic pillars maintaining the roof screen showing a fake blue sky. It seems to be some kind of set for the 10 000 chosen ones to live while they were traveling, and while the Burnish were fueling the ship.

The black and green mec recovered from its fall, as the teens inside recognized the voice coming from the other mec, and knew who they were up against now.

Hajime grit his teeth. “Free the Burnish Enoshima!”

“Like hell!” She screamed.

The belly of her suit opened, revealing some type of cannon. The boys prepared themselves for an incoming blast, Nagito bent the machine backwards as a massive beam color fluorescent passed above them. Both teens gritting their teeth and bending with the machine, and could feel the scorching heat of the attack they just avoided. The beam hit some buildings behind, reducing the buildings into dirt.

Junko gloated. “That’s the Genocide Cultivation Beam! Made to change montains into farmlands! One of the tools meant for our new planet, but I gotta waste it on your stupid asses!”

A realization struck Nagito. “Wait- how about the people inside?”

She scoffed. “I took them to the protected shelters on the second bridge obviously!” Using the distraction, the white haired firefighter made their mec shatter the cannon as their enemy bothered answering their obvious question. Realizing she was tricked, the woman raged. “You little-!” and made her bear-like suit punch towards the boys' tinier mec in front of her engine.

However, the tinier mec held the fist back with its own. The brunette inside clicked his tongue. “If you can make stuff like that, why can’t you use it to keep the Earth magma under control!?”

They could hear her gritting her teeth as she answered. “I tried and I couldn’t! Want me to repeat till I blow your ears off!?”

“No thank you.” Politely answered Nagito, which only enraged their adversary more as she slammed down the second fist on them, which was blocked as well.

Hajime kept it going. “If you know the Earth is gonna burst then you just have to stop it!! You can think about the rest later!!”

“You stupidly hopeful idiots!!” Her suit pushed the boy’s suit into the ground, lifting metal pillars that was under the fake street. The Burnish mec grabbed onto one of them as it was popping up from the floor to gain a higher ground, to then jump and punch the other mec tight in the control center.

However, Junko quickly recovered and threw another jump to send the tinier engine flying. Hitting a metal pillar, sliding across the buildings and then grabbed onto the ceiling to slow down its trajectory, creating dark holes into the screen's illusion.

Nagito turned to Hajime behind him as they slowed down, noticing the brunette getting shook by the violence of their flight. “Are you alright?”

Hajime panted and took a deep breath to get his lungs under control. “I’m alright, just focus on the fight!”

“Alright.” The pale teen grabbed the command motion controls and pushed them towards their enemy. Making their machine soar back into their adversary, kicking it in the belly. It quickly recovered from the hit, and grabbed one of the Burnish’s suit’s legs, using it to slap the boys against the buildings, before throwing them towards a metal pillar.

The black and green engine crashed back into the ground, but got up as if nothing had happened. “Well you are truly putting up a fight!” Laughed Nagito. “You and your…”

Hajime finished his train of thoughts. “Big Bang Monokuma? I mean it looks like a bear, and the Big Bang is you know…”

“Oh!” The other teen approved. “Good idea! I like it! Also, Hajime if you would…”

The Remnant Leader nodded. “Got it.” He clapped his hands, Nagito made their suit do the same.

After this movement, the mec separated its black mechanical hands, creating a greenish red chain that it enrolled around its arm, creating a massive Burnish fire around it that was about to be sent towards their enemy.

Predicting the incoming attack, the Monokuma released walls of ice from its own hands, putting it in between the two suits.

The massive flame flew towards the bear-like suit, taking a dragon like form, and crashing against the walls.

“Impressive! You stopped the Ko de Hinata’s flames!” Praised the pale teen. “But this isn’t over yet.” He turned to Hajime, who didn’t even need a word to understand.

The Burnish suit jumped up, and the arm surrounded by flames became a giant scorching fist gaining a color close to magma. The burning limb hit the frozen walls and melted through it, but Junko was having none of it.

“Stop-” One of the mec’s arms leaned back. “With-” Said arms flew back after gaining momentum. “Your-” Some kind of metallic claw inside the arm pierced inside the burning hand. “Stupid names!!” The claw froze over, and shattered the fist like a sheet of paper, forcing the boys to take a step back. The blonde woman gloated. “I present the Pulverizing PileDriver! Originally made to dig for water but I had to waste something on you idiots again!”

Hajime groaned. “You complain about names but then you proceed to make one yourself.” He sighed. “Hypocrite.” The remark made Nagito chuckle, and the brunette chuckled along with him.

Their laugh was cut short however. “Say that again!” Interrupted Junko.

The tinier mec kept dodging the piledriver as Junko tried to stab them with it. Luck was their side as she stuck the weapon inside of one of the buildings, giving them an opportunity to take their distance away from the lethal claw, which they took as they ran along the street.

The Governor wasn’t about to let them get away, and threw the building her weapon was stabbed in in their direction, crashing onto them, and letting Junko get a hit in on them, once again sending them soaring across the fake city.

The boys tried to recover from their fall. The brunette groaned. “That thing is some serious bad news!” as he grit his teeth and tried to sit back up in the pod.

Nagito, face planted onto the floor, muffled against it. “We need something to counter.” He lifted his face off the floor. “Maybe if I had my freeze spear…”

“Huh? Freeze spear?” The brunette thought back to their fights. “I see, that baton thing!”

“Calling my favorite weapon a thing…” The pale teen replied in a maybe or maybe not sarcastic manner.

Hajime sighed. “Alright alright, just give me a second. And grab that metal pillar.”

Nagito did as he was ordered and grabbed one of the scattered metal pillars and threw it in the air. The Remnant’s fire surrounded the thick metal stick, forming a shape around it, it was then made into a spear, with one sharp end and on the other was a long cord.

Nagito admired Hajime’s creation. “How wonderful!”

The brunette chuckled, proud of himself. “Do you like it?”

“Absolutely!” The spear fell back down, and the mec caught it in midair.

Over them was now standing the Big Bang Monokuma, ready to plunge the piledriver into them. The pale teen countered with the cord end of the spear, blocking the attack. The said cord enrolled itself around the frozen claw, and its heat slowly melted the trapped weapon. Nagito simply made the other hand slap the weapon with motion commands to break the now weakened piledriver in two.

“Nice!” Praised Hajime.

Then the ground shook underneath them, but it came from neither of their engines.

* * *

The warp above the ship was now instabble, Burnish fame was flowing out of the ship’s extremities in an alarming and erratic manner.

Komaru, flying over the Gofer ship instinctively knew who was behind that abnormality. “Makoto!”

Her intuition was right, as inside the ship in the Prometec Engine’s core, the small scientist was ignoring other’s orders and typing erratic commands. After finishing to type one last order, he took cover behind the command board.

The core exploded, and the warp gate above the spaceship shattered. With nothing holding the Gofer up, it crashed back down into its original spot, and the Burnish mec in its belly was sent back onto the deck as it passed through a hole in the fake ceiling, the momentum sending it up.

“What have you done!?” Screamed Junko through the com.

Inside the core, Makoto alone stood up to answer. “I destroyed the central pod by overloading it. It’s now inoperable.”

“And you did it on purpose didn’t you!?”

“Yes.” Makoto looked around him, cringing at the sight of the trapped Burnish. “I was an idiot to have believed in you. I don’t care about your plan, your “hope” anymore. I’ll thwart your ambitions, and I’ll make my own hope for humanity!”

The woman slammed her hand on her chair. “I should’ve known! You and your naiveté makes me want to puke!” She activated another com. “Mukuro! Call Colonel Kokichi! I want that hopeful idiot crushed!”

* * *

On the deck, the boy’s mech slowly sat up. The brunette stretched. “Damn, are you alright?”

The other teen held himself up on the command board. “I’m fine. It seems the Gofer has crashed…”

Hajime pointed towards the sky. “The gate! It disappeared!”

He didn’t have time to finish his train of thoughts, as the Big Bang Monokuma pierced through the ground below them, prompting them to jump away.

Junko’s voice was deadpanned. “The Earth is doomed to despair. This ship and its passengers are the only future for mankind.” Her machine spread its insides, revealing an arsenal of humongous cannons. “And I’m the one that holds that future!!”

Again preparing for a beam attack, Nagito repeated the last strategy and bent their mec backwards.

Over their heads passed a massive blueish laser that traveled far behind them trapping in ice anything too close to it, landing in a faraway mountain, freezing it in a deadly explosion of ice.

“Absolute Zero Heat Death Cannon! The Ultimate Freezing Weapon!” The name Absolute Zero brought back bad memories for Hajime, sending a chill down his spine. “Made for defense against Promare attacks and Solar flares!”

Nagito observed the devastation. “If you possess such a monstrous weapon, why can’t you use it t-”

Junko interrupted him. “I can’t!” She sent ice walls towards the other suit. “It can’t support the heat at the center of the Earth!”

Hajime accusingly pointed at the Big Bang Monokuma. “No that’s wrong! You just want to migrate no matter what instead of actually putting in some effort!”

“My effort will be to send you two dumbasses to hell!” She claimed as the Absolute Zero cannon recharged and fired directly onto the Burnish mec.

Inside of the beam, the boys were struggling against it, Nagito trying to make their engine walk towards the other, and trying to use the spear as a protection.

“You didn’t even try to dodge!” Pointed Hajime out. “What’s the plan!?”

Nagito grit his teeth. “It’s alright! Our hope will beat this beam of despair!”

_“Are you a fucking idiot!?”_ Hajime screamed back.

“If you say so!” The spear eventually shattered, and the Burnish mec slowly reached out towards the other robot. “But…”

The brunette continued. “Even so…”

They both took a deep breath and exclaimed. “ **We’ll shoot through your despair!** ”

In one last push, the limb of the mech entered one of the cannons, and Hajime made his power run rampant through it, making his flames fill the insides of the bear-like machine, and making it burst with a reddish green glow.

Both robots were now immobile, one trapped in ice and the other incapacitated by the explosions of physical blazes in it belly.

Nagito, inside the cockpit covered in ice and shaking like a leaf but still with a smile on his face asked: “D-did we w-win?”

Worried, Hajime walked out of the pod, picked up his comrade in his arms while covering himself in soft heat, trying to warm the other up. “First off let’s warm you up.” The brunette softly took the other in a half embrace, fearing that if he is too rough he will break something.

The white haired teen let his head sunk into the other's warmth. “Huh.” He breathed out.

“What? Are you hurting? Is it too hot?”

Those questions made Nagito chuckle. “No, just…” The pale teen sunk deeper into Hajime’s torso, finding it very comfortable. “Your chest is nice.”

And in the next second Hajime was throwing him across the cockpit.

* * *

The few moments of calm were quickly cut short, as a barely human looking silhouette clawed out of the rubbles.

The blonde woman stood on top of her broken engine. She let out a desperate laugh. “So rescuing the Burnish means that much to you fools huh?” She kept chuckling as she looked up at the sky and spread her arms, as if showing her words. “But it’s too late! The Burnish are destined for despair! Can you hear it?” She stared at the cockpit of the now destroyed Ko de Hinata, implicitly looking at Hajime. “Their cries of agony? Ah~ such desperate sounds~!”

The echoes of their suffering rang countless times in Hajime’s ears. He felt his veins bubble up inside his body like magma. “You  _ bitch-!” _

She kept giggling. “If you hate me so much then come at me! I dare you!”

Something snapped inside Hajime’s brain. “You don’t have to tell me twice!!” He jumped out of the cockpit towards his mortal enemy.

In another corner of the cockpit, Nagito tried to reach out to him. “Hajime! Calm down!”

His plea was ignored as the brunette stumbled on the rubbles, ran to Junko and pointed towards her with his hand like a gun. “I will never-”

Her hand gleamed.

“ **FORGIVE YOU!!** ” He punctuated before shooting a torrent of flames at her, her silhouette slowly disappearing in the blast.

“Did you really think you would burn me?”

“H-huh?” The brunette could only stammer out.

She appeared in the blaze. “With  _ this _ pathetic crap!?” She slapped Hajime’s flame away, revealing that her arm took a whole new form, it was of an eerie black, and radiated red flames. “The Burnish really are completely fucking stupid!”

The pale teen that stumbled out of the rubble couldn’t help but be taken aback. “What!?”

The Governor’s form was almost distorted by the flames, her hair becoming blaze of its own, and her limb bursting with deadly flames. “Indeed! I have the same mutation! That’s why I understand! That feeling of rage, that urge…” She held up her arm as if demonstrating her point. “The  **need** to watch  **_everything burn to the ground!!”_ **

Hajime grit his teeth. “Don’t you dare put us in the same category as you!”

“Oh but we are not!!” She threw a river of flames towards Hajime, trapping him in a sticky magma like hand. “I’m above all of you!!”

“Hajime!” Exclaimed Nagito. The brunette looked at him, signaling him to stay back.

Junko laughed. “My power is stronger than you would ever hope yours to be! Ah~ you must be in such despair from being outclassed so badly!” She brought Hajime closer to her. “But still, with your power, I can still restart the Prometec engine! You’ll be the new core!”

“W-what..?” A hint of fear slipped in his voice as he was face to face with the She-devil.

She grinned, a terrific smile like the edge of a knife spreading all across her face, and spirals of madness swirling in her eyes. “I  _ thank  _ **_you!”_ **

She was interrupted by an ice bullet hitting her hand, landing in between her and Hajime.

“Let him go.”

Both Burnish looked at the pale firefighter, holding a freeze gun towards his enemy.

He was staring daggers at the burning monster, his voice cold and blunt. “I said:  _ Let. Him.  _ **_Go._ ** _ ” _

She stared in disbelief and sighed. “Good grief.”

Nagito shot more bullets at her, but all melted when she used her other arm to hit him off his feet.

“Sorry, but there will be no power of love or hope that will save you.” She clicked her tongue. “I always despised you! Even back when I first met you! Back when I had my first Burnish spasms and burned that house to the ground.”

A realization hit the teen. “Wait… you’re the one that-”

She grinned. “Yep! And let me tell you, it felt good after I had to hold back for so long! You don’t remember, after all you were too panicked to even get what was happening, but you just ran out there by yourself. And I just used the opportunity to build my reputation.”

His image of her was already shattered at that point. But this was just pouring salt in his wounds.

“I placed you in Burning Rescue, because I was sure a weakling like you was sure to die in there! But you always came back! Mission after mission, you kept surviving and coming back and looking up to me with that naive fucking smile!” She expressed her rage by crushing Hajime in her grasp, who let out a groan of pain, this only made the anger inside Nagito boil more. “Everything in my life always went according to plan. Except when it comes to you! You’re a pain in the ass! A fucking  _ tumor _ in my side!!”

He grit his teeth. “You… you  _ hopeless  _ **_bitch-!”_ **

“This is the end for you!!” She snapped her fingers, releasing a sea of blaze towards the pale teen.

“Nagito!!” The brunette released fire through the antenna of hair on his head, free from her grasp, and erected a wall in between her flames and his comrade, who was too shocked to react. In a last ditch effort, he enveloped the other teen in his flames, hoping to give him protection.

Junko’s fire destroyed his wall, and pushed Nagito off the edge, making him fall out of Hajime’s sight.

He starred in horror, feeling tears well up in his eyes. “You… You’re a  **MONSTER!!”** He cried.

“Oh not at all!” Her burning hand grabbed the pod inside one of the broken engines. “I’m a  **SAVIOR!!** ” Wings of fire bursted from her back, and she flew towards the hole inside the deck, destination, the Prometec Engine. “ **THE SAVIOR OF MANKIND!!** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally freed Makoto! Yay!  
> Yes its a spear like the one in Chapter 5 dkjncd  
> Also here the Junko we all know! the one doing weird noises while thinking of despair! I've been holding that one back for a while, but I wanted a villainous breakdown that was at least Kray level's of epic  
> I admit it's a bit weird to write DR characters have the shounen type banter and epic screaming hjdfbhchsd But again, I love writing Hajime/Nagito banter, it's so good.  
> And yes I needed to at least place one joke about Hajime's chest size, it's the law. And a tsundere outburst too.


	8. Burn Me Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Wait- Stop it! What are you doing!?”  
> Hajime waved his hand. “Save the Earth, duh.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the finale! I hope you guys have been looking forward to this, and that I'll do justice to the scenes you wanted to see!

Makoto escaped through a trapdoor, and was now on the ship’s deck, running away from Freeze Force, hot on his heels.

However, there was no way out for him, he was at the edge of the ship, massive wind blowing on his lab coat. He watched everything below him, and could only turn around to see Colonel Kokichi and his force getting closer to him.

“Ya know, for a scientist you’re really dumb!” Asserted the small member, playing with a freeze gun. “Now come here without being a prick and maybe I won’t kill you.”

The scientist looked behind him, took his decision, and jumped off the ship. Leaving Freeze Force shocked, even the Colonel let go of his weapon as he tried processing the information.

He quickly shook his head to save face and grinned. “Well he’d rather die than face me! Too bad, so sad.”

Or so he thought, as Komaru’s transport plane emerged, with Makoto hanging onto it, just above his sister in the cockpit.

“Oh you sneaky _little-”_ Kokichi didn’t have time to finish his sentence as a fire truck and a car rammed into him and his unit.

Makoto descended into the cockpit, so happy to see his little sister. “Komaru!”

She extended her hand for a high five that her brother gladly took. “Nice! I’m gonna go get Nagito now, go join the others!” She declared as she put the automatic mode for the plane to join her comrades, and she dropped out of the machine on a rescue bike.

She slid on a path of ice stuck in the ground that led her right onto the deck with her sight on her friend, surrounded in a green Burnish fire.

* * *

“The Burnish are inside this pods surrounding us…” Junko extended her arms, showing Hajime, trapped inside a made up pod made out of put out Burnish physical flames and remains of his previous pod, the black walls surrounding them. “You will fly us across the stars, powered by the Burnish’s despair…” The savoured the last word of the sentence before turning to her prisoner. “You’ll become a legend! You don’t deserve it but you will!”

He tried to struggle in the grasps of the barbed wires clinging onto his form, holding him down. “You won’t get away with this!”

She ignored him and activated the engine.

He could hear it, so clearly, the thousands of screams of his brethren. Echoing in his ears, spreading in his brain… the anger, the pain, the injustice, the unfairness of it all flooded his psyche as the energy entered the pod and suffocated him.

“Go on! Come on! Show me an expression full of despair! This despair will build new hope for mankind! _AH~_ This is so exhilarating!” She breathed like a maniac. She calmed down and walked to a control panel. “Mukuro, this is Junko, restart the process, we warp in five minutes.”

Her sister nodded. “Understood.” She gestured to the personnel like a commander to her soldiers. “Gofer warps in 5 minutes!”

* * *

“Hey Nagito! Can you hear me!?” The Burning Rescue were surrounding their comrade’s burning form. “He’s still on fire, I’m gonna-”

Before Komaru could fire her ice gun, Kaito held out his hand in a signal for her to stop. “Wait a sec…”

The fire surrounding the knocked out teen slowly crawled off of him, all of the embers finding their nest at the palm of his hands. He coughed and sat up in a flash.

Kaito gave him a pat on the back to help him get back his breathing. “Are you alright?”

After a few coughs, Nagito was able to answer. “Yeah.” He opened his hand, revealing the tiny reddish green fire in his palm. “It’s thanks to Hajime, he gave me protection by lending me some of his fire…” He gently closed his hand on the sparks, thanking the brunette for his kindness.

Above their heads, the warp gate started forming again. Makoto gasped. “What the- But I destroyed the engine!”

“Junko is using Hajime as the new core.” He got up. “Doctor, where’s the main engine?”

Gonta poked his head out of his suit. “You going to..?”

Nagito nodded. “I’m going to save him.”

Like Gonta, Shuichi poked his head out. “Is your plan just running head first into the core..?”

“Absolutely.” He clenched the hand containing Hajime’s fire. “I’m going to rescue Hajime, and then-” Before he could finish his sentence, the Burning Rescue truck was pushed over by a bunch of Freeze Force vehicles.

“Hey Kaito!!” Screamed Kokichi. “Hand over the doctor and the pale dude if you know what’s good for you!”

“Go fuck yourself!” The team facepalmed at the grace of Kaito’s reply.

The colonel snorted. “Why did I expect an actual answer? Well, it doesn't matter.” He reloaded his freeze gun. “I’m gonna freeze you up! God how long have I wanted to kick your-”

He was interrupted by Gonta climbing on the truck in his mec and punching Kokichi away. “No shooting Kaito!”

“Nice one Gonta!” The purple haired boss gave him a thumbs up. “Hey Miu! Ya know what to do!”

She bursted out of a trap door in the truck. “Hell yeah I do!”

Next thing Nagito knew he was loaded into his trusted white mec with his trusted spear.

Miu kept typing the commands. “Oh by the way, I installed a drill on your stick. Will make your life easier in getting down and dirty to save your boyfriend.”

Nagito was delighted. “Thank you!”

Makoto next to Miu pointed out. “And you’re not denying the last part..? Anyways...” He typed along with Miu. “I gave you the schematics of the ship.”

Miu giggled. “I’m gonna calculate the angle and send you straight into the action! That’s what he-”

The small brunette quickly interrupted her. “So we’re going to send you in a second! You ready?”

“Always ready!” Or so he thought but he really wasn’t prepared for the intensity of the G-force pressed against him as he was sent straight down.

He passed through the hole straight into the fake city, and the drill collided with the street, quickly digging into it.

“I’m coming Hajime!”

* * *

The Remnant Leader was clenching teeth, trying to support the intense amount of energy sent to him.

He suddenly felt some type of presence next to him. He opened his eyes and noticed some kind of glimmer… he could start to hear a voice.

“Is… this..?”

Before he could finish, the glimmer overtook him, and the pain and energy blew into his body like water out of a busted barrage, and his scream joined the ones of his comrades.

* * *

Gonta shattered a Freeze Force vehicule all on his own, Shuichi was doing his best to shoot all of the incoming enemies, while Kaito was taking on Kokichi one on one.

But all of them could notice and realize, all over the Earth, volcanic eruptions were spreading, cracks in the lands started to appear, multicolored fires sipping out of it, pillars of flames dominating the skies.

* * *

Hajime’s voice was dead. Only broken cries were slipping out of his vocal chords as strange voices whispered in his ears.

The Burnish fire and energy surrounding intensified, the scream boiling in his throat were building up, and a sudden rush of energy went to the tips of fingers right to his brain.

He let out a blood curdling cry, as he no longer felt anything at the tips of his body.

His white haired comrade bursted through the wall, determined to stop his pain, and the mechanical drill collided with the core.

After a few seconds of friction, it passed right through the barrier, shattering it, and so did the warp gate outside shatter along with it.

The engine had stopped, the scenery drowned in red became a gloomy dark and grey. The pale teen didn’t even waste time taking a breath, and ran his suit to the trapped brunette.

“Hajime!” The mechanical hands grabbed the barbed wires and broke them, and gently took the teen out of the pod. “Can you hear me!? It’s over!”

As he laid him down, he noticed his lack of feet and hands, his limbs slowly crumbling away in ash. White haired teen grit his teeth.

A blaze collided with his suit, taking a part of its shoulder off. He turned to where it seemed to have come from, and saw Junko slowly coming down on the ground. “Damnit- How are you still alive!?”

He quickly stepped in between the monstrous woman and Hajime.

“Whatever.” She prepared a blaze in her hand. “I’ll kill you  _ right now!!” _

He didn’t think as he charged full force into her blast. The heat melted his weapon, his suit, and swallowed his silhouette.

But he put his foot down. He then put his other one. He slowly walked through her blast.

She could only gasp. “Wh-what!?”

“I think I just understood something. One’s flame reflects their intentions. Yours are meant to kill, to hurt, to make one despair… but look.”

She could no longer maintain her attack. The torrent of flame went away, and it revealed Nagito, unharmed, holding green embers in his hand.

“Even in his state, Hajime is still protecting me. It’s warm, delicate, and protective. Kinda like a hug.” He gently closed his hand on the sparks, giggling. “Such a gentle fire for such a prickly guy! He really is caring deep down! What a kind soul!”

Junko groaned. “What are you even-”

He interrupted her, still smiling. “Now I’m going to save him, save the earth, and defeat your despair with those flames of hope!”

“What!?”

Before she could react, he landed a hit right in her face. “Oh. It even gives me strength! Expected nothing less from Hajime!” As she was recovering from the first hit, he landed a second one, making her lose consciousness and fall to the ground. “Now, sit back and watch hope triumph!”

With this done, he ran up to the brunette and held his weak cold body in his arms. “Hajime! Can you hear me!?”

There was no sign of life from the other teen. Almost half of his body was crumbling, and he wasn’t breathing. Nagito put him back down, and started executing the cardiac massage motions.

“Breathe! Stay with me Hajime! Don’t die on me!” He pressed harder in his motions, sweating from the effort and the worry. The lack of movement or any trace of life from the other was so alien, in the short, life changing intense time they have known each other, he was always so responsive. He wanted that Hajime back, we was missing him already. The brunette crashed into his life with a bang, and made his way right into Nagito’s heart without even trying, and Nagito wasn’t going to let him slip out of it just like that. “Come on I’m begging you-  _ Please!!” _

He tried to think of other ways that could bring him back, and was reminded of what Hajime did in the cave. The brunette was unsuccessful that time, but…

He took his hands off Hajime, releasing the green sparks the same teen let him borrow. He took it in his mouth and bit, it tasted like warm delicately prepared herbal tea, relaxing and gentle.

He brought his attention to Hajime’s face, slowly lifting up his chin. Under a layer of ash the pale teen could feel his soft skin. His eyes traced the brunette’s handsome features, and stopped at his lips. He ran his thumb over them, peeling off a layer of ash and dust, and feeling its delicate texture.

Nagito took a deep breath as he couldn’t fight the blush forming on his face as he reminded himself how inappropriate it was to observe his comrade like this while he was  _ dying. _ He reminded himself he will have plenty of time to do it once Hajime was back to him.

He pressed his lips against the brunette, breathing the warm fire inside his mouth, giving it back to its owner. He tried his best to not get swallowed in by the scent and the sensations labeled Hajime Hinata, and focused on breathing the fire in. Again, he will have plenty of time to do that once Hajime was back.

He felt a breath ghost over his lips. He heard an out of this world sound coming from the brunette’s limbs and hair, he could feel that he was coming back, and the other's mouth twitched.

The white haired teen broke the kiss, and stared at Hajime’s face as he was getting his breathing back and slowly opening his eyes. “N… Nagito?”

He nodded. “Welcome back! You made it.”

The brunette coughed. “Did…” A slight flush appeared on his cheeks. “Did you just save me..?”

Nagito tried to fight the blush creeping on his face, but with his pale skin it was very obvious. He could only smile to save face and feel his eye twitch as his grin half disfigured itself into some kind of lovestruck embarrassed smile.

Hajime bit his lip and pushed Nagito off of him. “Let’s- Let’s deal with that later! For now…”

He sat up, and walked to the pod he was trapped in , and knocked on it. “When I was trapped in there, through all of the Brunish I synced with the Promare in the core. I know how to fix everything.”

Nagito followed him. “And what’s the plan?”

“The Promare’s combustion is incomplete. We need to just let them burn out! And for that-” He pointed to the other teen. “I’m gonna need you. We’re going to burn the whole planet. However, We’re going to combine the primal Promare desire to burn everything to the ground, and the desire to protect. Just like how I did with the flames I gave you.”

Nagito brought his hand to his chin in thought. “So we’re going to drench the Earth in non-burning flames?”

Hajime grinned. “Exactly.”

Nagito smiled back. “I like that plan! And this time, let’s call it Hajime de Nagi!”

“Sure.”

On the other side of the core, Junko woke up from her knocked out state to see the boys climb inside the pod. “Wait- Stop it! What are you doing!?”

Hajime waved his hand. “Save the Earth, duh.”

The pod closed and started turning on itself, surrounded by Burnish fire.

The brunette opened his arms wide, looked up and spoke to all of the Burnish around them. “You guys! I’ll need all of you! Lend me your strength!”

In one of the pods, he recognized Kazuichi’s voice. “Hell yeah! You got it soul friend!”

“Let’s do this shit!” Encouraged Fuyuhiko next to him.

All of the Burnish cheered and their fires surrounded the boys' pod.

From there, the blaze grew and grew, enveloping the core, swallowing the room, progressing into the ship, and enveloping it whole in multicolored flames.

On the deck, the Burning Rescue was staring in awe at the flames cradling them, while Colonel Kokichi was panicking at the sight and acting like he was having a seizure.

Komaru moved her arms and watched the sparks follow. “The flames…”

“Yes. They’re protecting us!” Claimed Makoto.

Out of the corner of their eyes, they saw a pod fly out of the ship, landing on the rubbles of the Burnish mec.

The suit was enveloped in flames, a massive form taking off into the sky, soaring above the clouds and slowly took a whole new form, a giant burning suit was now standing on the planet.

“ **Let’s** **_GO!!”_ **

The mass hit the Earth with its flames, drenching it and the blaze overtook the massive pillars of fires coming out of the Earth’s cracks, extinguishing them, thanks to the well meaning protective fire, no one was harmed in the process.

It kept hitting over and over, and it slowly took more and more of the earth until it covered it in its entirety.

On top of the world, Hajime groaned. “Ok- now what do I do with this heat!?” A crazy idea flew into his mind. “I could torch the entire system! But…”

“But?” Calmly asked Nagito.

The brunette clenched his firsts. “I'm not sure  _ I _ have enough heat to do that…”

The pale teen wondered. “So we just need to raise your temperature right?”

“Pretty much.” He tried to get the flames under control while he thought about it. “But how do I do that?”

Nagito placed his hands on Hajime’s tie. “I have a pretty good idea.” And he pulled on said tie.

“Wha-  **mPH-!?** ” He made a choked noise as he felt his lips being kissed, his entire body flushing in shocked and embarrassed happiness. He squealed against the other’s lips: “ **YOU** **_JERK-!!!”_ **

His tsundereish outburst seemed to be what he needed as all of the fire gathered flew towards the sun, and exploded onto other planets. The gravity pulled back the blazes back to the star, and the suit brought all of it back, swinging the cord of its spear to attract the fire.

The sparks sipped back into the cracks of the Earth back where it came from, closing the gaps behind them, restoring the Earth back to its former glory.

Its job done, the Hajime de Nagi disappeared.

* * *

Hajime woke up surrounded by space like darkness, but he didn’t have any problem breathing, his Burnish flame trailing behind him.

He turned around, and watched it slowly leave his body. The last sparkle leaving his hand with a child-like giggle.

The flame joined thousands of others in the distance, all of them slowly forming a line, like the light behind a slowly closing door.

And once all of the blazes have gathered, the door closed behind them, leaving only darkness.

* * *

Nagito opened his eyes to be greeted with the normal sky. He took a quick look around him, and everything seemed to have gone back to normal, aside from some devastated buildings thanks to the crashing Gofer ship.

The Burning Rescue was there too, too tired to say anything to him, and simply let him wake up at his own pace. The Burnish were there too, reuniting amongst themselves, and cheering. He kept watching around him, and spotted a familiar brown spiky hair.

He ran, only to see Hajime handcuffed, being taken away by what looked like the police. The white haired teen concluded he was out for a while now for them to be here. He also saw Junko, her sister, and Kokichi being taken away as well, but he didn’t care about them.

“Hajime!” He called out to get his attention. “Where are you going?”

The other teen slowed down, not looking at the other. “I’m technically a criminal ya know? The Remnants and all… So I’m being taken away for a trial.” He chuckled. “I’m sure “Saving the world” will help my case, so don’t worry too much, I won’t be held for long. Also, we managed to send back the Promare into their original dimension. There’s no Burnish, or Promare here anymore.”

The white haired teen got closer, and touched the other’s arm to make him look at him.

Hajime sighed at his insistence. “Ya know…” He looked at the other in the eyes. “Let’s hang out again sometimes.” He showed his hand with a smile.

Nagito smiled back and took his hand. “It’s a date then.”

They shook each other's hand, determined to honour their promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the abrupt end, but i still tried to add some stuff to the original ending. Emphasis on tried.  
> And yes another tsundere outburst, I love tsundere Hajime and I will die on this hill. Writing him and Nagito was honestly the joy of the writing process. I said it before and I'll say it again, I love their banter.  
> Anyways, now that it's over I'm going to watch this fall into AO3 obscurity jkdnhjwks, but I hope you all enjoyed! It was fun to write, hard, but fun, gave me a good excuse to rewatch the movie too. I would like to hear you guys' impressions, and I'm happy you went along with me on this weird writing journey, that didn't last that long actually. For once I actually finish my crap hdjbhfcdjw  
> Thank you guys!


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